Rohit begins to repay Kumble, Kohli's faith

It is beginning to change nowadays a little bit with Virat Kohli's popularity knowing no bounds, but going into the Delhi Test last year, the last time an Indian crowd cheered an Indian wicket was in Mumbai in 2013-14 when M Vijay fell to make way for one last Test innings of Sachin Tendulkar. You thought this would be the last such instance, but at Feroz Shah Kotla after waiting for a few replays to check for a no-ball, the crowd began to cheer once it was clear Dane Piedt hadn't overstepped. The wicket he earned was Rohit Sharma's. The mode of dismissal infuriated the crowd. Five balls into an innings he looked to clear long-on - yes long-on - and failed. People cheering said Rohit doesn't deserve any more chances; they felt he was blocking the way of other deserving players, and that he wasn't even making bowlers earn his wicket.

Perhaps the crowd remembered his dismissal in Southampton the previous year. India were leading the series 1-0, they had conceded 569 on a flat track, needed to get out of there with a draw, and at 210 for 4, 74 runs into a partnership, having done the hard work to reach 28, Rohit hit Moeen Ali straight to mid-off with five minutes to go to tea break. These are the dismissals that get etched permanently.

Perhaps that Kotla crowd knew this was a trend that would follow. In Kanpur in this series, on a turning track where India had got off to a good start, he arrested a collapse, added 52 runs with R Ashwin, and then half an hour before stumps he played a nothing shot, finding mid-on off the bowling of Mitchell Santner. You wondered if Rohit can at all score Test runs without playing the lofted shot. You wonder if Anil Kumble and Kohli are wrong to make exceptions for Rohit.

One thing is for certain. The policy to play six batsmen on difficult home tracks is justified. With the form that Indian spinners are in, they will need the extra bowler only on really flat tracks. The scoreboard pressure from the extra runs, and the assurance against collapses, that a No. 6 gives can be worth more. The other day in a discussion organised by Cricket Association of Bengal on the sidelines of this Test, Sourav Ganguly paid a big tribute to the man sitting next to him, Anil Kumble. Ganguly said Kumble used to tell the batsmen, "You give me runs on the board, I will win you matches."

"And he did," Ganguly added.

Kumble is now India's coach. This change in strategy seems to be a change driven by Kumble. In Kanpur, without naming anybody, speaking about the shift to using four bowlers, Kohli said the presence of "intelligent people" in the change room helps. The strategy was under no doubt, the personnel was. Was Rohit, averaging under 35 after 19 Tests, the man for the job?

Kohli has always felt so. He is a captain who believes in dominating the opposition. He wanted somebody who demoralised attacks from in-between situations, someone in the Adam Gilchrist mode. His "changes the game in one session" comment became a millstone around Rohit's neck, especially because his inclusion kept coming at the expense of a solid batsman who had earned his chances. That is liable to put Rohit under extra pressure; he can't live on an island and not know that Cheteshwar Pujara is missing matches because of him.

Playing Rohit as the sixth batsman not only got rid of disguised unemployment, it also must have freed his mind a little bit. Yet you wouldn't have wanted to be Rohit walking in at 43 for 4 with New Zealand on a roll in the second innings. The pitch was doing heaps at that time, and New Zealand were pounding in, looking to finally break through.

Rohit usually responds to criticism of his lofts gone wrong by saying there is no such thing as a soft dismissal. If the same shot goes for a six, he says, everybody praises it. This defence doesn't cut it with Kumble. In the lead-up to the Kolkata Test, while Kumble praised Rohit's second-innings half-century in Kanpur, he also offered a mild rebuke that his first-innings shot was what he would be disappointed with. While Kumble was giving Rohit the confidence of a secured position in the XI, he was asking for more responsibility, to alter his natural game according to the team's needs.

Sunday just happened to be a situation where his natural game could work. While New Zealand were on a roll, they also knew they could not afford to concede quick runs because of the first-innings deficit of 112. They had little margins to play with. Rohit came out and slog-swept Jeetan Patel - the best New Zealand bowler in the first innings according to Ajinkya Rahane - for a six. Patel was pushed back immediately.

For company Rohit had the man who has once again made it fashionable to cheer an Indian wicket in India. The wicket immediately before Kohli's arrival brings only a moment of disappointment in Indian grounds now. Kohli and Rohit ran away with it, but the shooter and the harsh lbw call against Kohli still left Rohit work to do.

After playing one big shot early in the innings, Rohit showed he could score with shots other than the loft. The way he ran away with it against the old ball and against tired bowlers, you could imagine Kohli finally counting the repayment for his faith.

Rohit and Wriddhiman Saha first saw off the threatening combination of Matt Henry and Mitchell Santner, and then Rohit went from 29 off 59 to 82 off 132. Without really looking to accelerate, Rohit hurt New Zealand and took the game all but out of their reach. This is an innings that will give him the breathing space - although he said at the press conference he never felt under pressure in this series - but he will need to keep repeating this to completely repay the faith invested in him.