Why Rohit Sharma never got enough chances in Test cricket to cement his place?

 Rohit Sharma is considered one of the greatest batter in the world. In all forms of cricket he achieved a lot as a batter but in test cricket he still needs to achieve many things as a batter but Rohit Sharma was never got enough chances to prove himself as a batter in Test cricket till 2019. Since 2019, he became a different batter in Test cricket. But what happened with Rohit Sharma career in Test cricket before 2019 , let's revisit that phase of Rohit Sharma career.

Rohit Sharma Test career (2013 to 2019)

Rohit Sharma started his Test career in October 2013 as a middle order batter. Rohit Sharma scored a brilliant hundred in debut Test match,he scored another in second match of Test career but what will happen with Rohit Sharma Test career after that brilliant performance against WestIndies even Rohit Sharma wasn't aware of those things. Rohit Sharma played Test Series in South Africa in 2013 and he flopped as a batter in that series, after that series he played another series in Newzealand where he scored runs with an average of 40 . But real story started after this series, In 2014 England series where Rohit Sharma was deserving player to play in Test matches but he got dropped from playing XI despite having a good performance in Newzealand conditions. In First 2 Test matches he was out of playing XI, in next match he got a chance in playing XI but he didn't scored runs and in next match he got dropped from team . In Australian tour Rohit Sharma played first 2 test matches and he didn't scored enough runs and he got dropped once again in next match in Melbourne but Rohit Sharma back in playing XI in next match and he scored a fifty in first innings and scored 39 runs in 2nd innings. After that match Rohit Sharma played next 4 matches and he performed good as a middle order batter but once again he got dropped in first 2 Test matches against South Africa but he played next 2 matches he didn't scored enough runs and once again he got dropped from playing XI in first two matches of WestIndies series and he came back in playing XI in 3rd Test match where he scored good runs in that match. Rohit Sharma got selected in Indian team for Test series against Newzealand and one sports journalist asked question to chief selector "Why Rohit Sharma is getting more chances in Test cricket?" then Chief selector gave a reply " Team management hasn't given consistent chances to Rohit Sharma in Test cricket and that's why we are giving chances to Rohit Sharma in Test cricket " . When Rohit Sharma played in that series he scored 238 Runs with an average of 79.33 but he was unfortunate because after that series he got injured in an Odi match and he ruled out from International cricket till March 2017. In Sri Lanka series he was selected in team but he didn't played any match but later in another series he made comeback in playing XI and he scored a brilliant hundred and he performed very well in that series and because of his performance he got selected in playing XI in South Africa ahead of Ajinkya Rahane but he didn't perform but he played a knock of 47 in 2nd match but in next match he got dropped from team. But in England tour he got dropped from Indian team Test squad because of his performance in South Africa and that was a very big unfair with Rohit Sharma because in South Africa every Indian batter (excluding Virat Kohli) struggled to score runs but those players selected for England series and Rohit Sharma got dropped from squad but Rohit Sharma made his comeback in Australia series and he played 2 Test matches and he scored good runs but in 2019 he got dropped from playing XI in WestIndies series and after that series he got promoted as a test opener and after that Rest is history. Rohit Sharma was promoted as an opener in Test cricket because that team management hadn't any options left to fill opening position because every opener got flopped and then Rohit Sharma promoted as an opener batter in Test cricket, there were 8 openers tried by team management in Test cricket before Rohit Sharma but no one performed. 

Now we will look some stats of Rohit Sharma in Test cricket during 2013 to 2018:

Matches: 27
Innings: 47
Runs: 1585
Average: 40.64
50s/100s: 10/3
Best: 177
Note - Rohit Sharma played 25 innings at No.6 batting position where he scored 1037 runs with an average of more than 54 . 

Note - Rohit Sharma never played consistently on a same batting position, his batting position always changed by team management. 

Note - KL Rahul, Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan was backed by team management in Test cricket despite failed in many matches but Rohit Sharma never got that backing in Test cricket.

Note - Whenever Rohit Sharma got out, he was trolled and he was called " He can't play Test cricket, he should focus on White-ball format" by cricket experts and media. 


Rohit Sharma is now performing very well and he is writing his greatness as a Test batter everyday, let's hope he finish his Test career on a high note. 



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