'He's resigned to the fact that it’s just going to be white-ball cricket' - Dinesh Karthik on Rohit Sharma's woes in Tests

Indian wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik has given his take on the reasons behind the current Indian skipper Rohit Sharma’s inconsistencies in the longest format of the game, even after dominating white-ball cricket for a decade.

Dinesh Karthik, who has rejuvenated his international career following a defining IPL 2022 tournament, reckoned that the Indian skipper was thrown several curve balls in his Test career. Karthik stated that Rohit always backed his abilities in red-ball cricket, and even after being guilty of throwing his wicket away, he always believed in coming back strongly.

Rohit Sharma always had the ability to blow away the opposition bowlers, and he himself was adamant about contributing in Tests. Unfortunately, the stylish opening batter took a long time to settle in the traditional form of the game, and with strong competition in the squad, he resigned to the fact of settling for white-ball cricket only for the Men in Blues.

“He has found answers to some, and he has not found answers to some. Rohit always believed that he had something to contribute to Test cricket. In the conversations that I have had, he always felt that maybe certain things didn’t go his way. Sometimes, he played a reckless shot or two, but he believed that he will come back. Interestingly, he didn’t come back at the speed that he would, and he resigned to the fact that maybe it’s just going to be white-ball cricket for him now,” Karthik said in the docu-series Summer Stalemate.

I don’t think there have been many who’ve had a start as successful as Rohit in Test cricket: Dinesh Kartik

The Indian skipper made a sensational start to his red-ball career back in 2013 in the home series against the Windies, which was, incidentally, Sachin Tendulkar’s last Test series. Rohit registered a scintillating 177 on his Test debut and followed it up with another ton in Mumbai, Sachin’s last Test. His imperious outings made him a firm favourite to succeed the legendary batter in the team, but he added just one more century in the next 23 matches, limiting his time in the playing XI.

“I don’t think there have been many who’ve had a start as successful as Rohit in Test cricket from an Indian point of view. In his first two matches, he got hundreds… and then everybody thought this is it – he is the big deal, and the fact that Sachin is retiring from Test cricket, he is the one who is going to answer all those questions for us. But life and sport, as it turns out, is never exactly what you think it is, and there were a lot of curve balls thrown at Rohit over the period of time,” Karthik added