Rohit Sharma and the tale of dropped catches

How fortunate one needs to be to reach the pinnacle of one’s expertise? For Indian opener, Rohit Sharma, the answer is five. Since taking the field for India in their 2019 ICC World Cup opener, the 32-year-old has taken the tournament by storm.

His tenure of seven innings, though, has rather been marred by substandard fielding efforts by almost every opponent he has faced in England. Thus, concluding that his World Cup is nothing, but an extended lucky patch would be an utter understatement to make.

It all started in as early as India’s opening fixture against South Africa where Rohit could have been dropped off just one run through a Kagiso Rabada bouncer. His fate followed suit against Australia (dropped on two), England (dropped on four) and quite recently, Bangladesh (dropped on nine).

And well, if he was to be dismissed in the first opportunity that the teams got, Rohit would have managed just 175 at the World Cup, but thanks to the fortunes favoring the Indian, the opener has amassed 544 at the 2019 edition so far. Call it luck?

But then again, this 175 would have been lot worse if he had been run out run against Pakistan. On a rain-hit day in Manchester, Rohit was at the end of yet another salvation when a muddle in Fakhar Zaman’s head allowed the opener to make his ground in as early as the ninth over. It was a clear run-out opportunity if only Zaman had his mind at place. Rohit eventually went on to score yet another influential 140 off just 113 deliveries.

Read | Rohit Sharma and his constructive records of 2019

But since this is only about the dropped catches, let’s just give the opener a free hand, shall we?

Furthermore, if we are dig deep into his figures considering both the outcomes, his average would take a massive hit. While he is enjoying an average of 90.66 (after 544 runs in seven innings), these figures would dwindle to a lowly 25.00 if contemplating the fact that he was actually dismissed in the first go.

If not for all those rued opportunities, Rohit wouldn’t have become the only Indian to score four World Cup century, nor would he have been able to surpass MS Dhoni in terms of sixes and his runs in 2019 would still have been way below the 1000-mark.

But at the end though, we all need to settle down to the fact that Rohit can well and truly cause major distress if given an opportunity for one. And now, there’s literally no necessity of any corroboration, to say the least.

Feature images courtesy: AFP Photo/ Paul Ellis