Hungry as a debutant, Rohit Sharma is targeting a big statement in the Lucknow ODI

What is the time in Lucknow now?

There is a specific kind of uneasiness that settles over a player who knows they have unfinished business. Rohit Sharma arrived in Dharamsala last Saturday with a six-week hamstring rehabilitation, a fitness test that was never a formality and the quiet knowledge that, at 39, he was no longer someone the management was waiting for endlessly. He played. He scraped 16 off 16 balls. And then Gill called no-run, the bowler got in the way, Rohit ran on anyway and Gurbaz completed the run-out with a throw that didn’t need a second look. Rohit was diving. He was gone. The innings didn’t end with a boundary or a line misjudgebut with poor communication – the most deflationary way it can be dismissed.

At first glance, it was a footnote. India won by seven wickets with 13 balls to spare and the match was restricted to 25 overs anyway – a format that barely resembled 50-over cricket, Rohit is there to play. But footnotes have a way of lingering when you’re 39, when your team captain is 25, and when the World Cup you spent two years quietly preparing for is now less than 14 months away.

So Lucknow looks like a more important match to me. A full-on 50-over-50 contest on the slow, engaging Ekana surface – conditions that require patience, accumulation and the full range of openers. It was on such an afternoon that Rohit was born to break through.

HUNGRY AS A DEBUTANT

Rohit Sharma looked comfortable in practice, taking short balls (PTI Photo)

In a media interview on Tuesday, bowling coach Sairaj Bahutule offered a window into how the dressing room views Rohit. It was cautious but also warm in a way that press conference quotes rarely are.

“Rohit Sharma is definitely an experienced player. He is a master cricketer and someone who adds immense value to this team, not only with his bat but also with his leadership qualities which will rub off on all the boys, including Shubman,” said Bahutule.

“Having him in this side is very, very important. He understands every game and knows what is expected of him and the team. He looks forward to every game and the amount of work he puts in is like he has just started playing.”

Hungry as a debutante. Bahutula’s phrase was all too apt. Rohit has just become the oldest Indian to represent the country in ODI cricket in Dharamsala, breaking Mohinder Amarnath’s record by eight days. He battled through a hamstring problem that ruled him out of much of Mumbai Indians’ IPL campaign. He passed a fitness test that was never guaranteed to pass. And then, first wicket, run-out. These are not conditions under which most 39-year-olds remain balanced. But this is Rohit Sharma, who led India to the Champions Trophy in 2025 – and who, if anything, has quietened down and been more certain about what he wants in the final chapter.

The question of whether Rohit faces pressure to perform or perish is not entirely clean. The selectors and the team management have made it clear: The 2027 World Cup in South Africa will not be gifted to anyone. Names just won’t get on the plane to Johannesburg. But Rohit is not fighting for his place the way a fringe player is. Rather, he is fighting to settle the conversation around him – to ensure that when the selectors sit down six months from now, they don’t debate his inclusion but assume it. A big score in Lucknow won’t end the debate permanently. Nothing will, not at his age. But it would significantly narrow the gap between the question and the answer.

WHAT IS ROHIT WATCH?

The first match gave India plenty to enjoy, but its brevity limited what could be learned. Shubman Gill’s unbeaten 84 off 66 balls was authoritative and the lead looked assured. KL Rahul at number five finished the game with 39 off 19. Ishan Kishan, in his first ODI since October 2023, looked impressive at the top with 34 off 22. But India were, as they had to be, in T20 mode. A proper 50-over match – especially in the heat of Lucknow in June – will pose very different questions to an order that hasn’t had a chance to bat together for long.

Bahutule’s comments on possible changes were deliberately vague, which in itself is a signal.

“To be honest, it’s such a short run that we don’t really feel like there could be too many changes,” he said. “With only three games, you can’t really come to a full understanding of which batting positions can or can’t be tried. We’ll just have to wait and see.”

Yashasvi Jaiswal, for all his credentials, is likely to wait again. The strongest case for a change is Kuldeep Yadav, who was not in the XI in Dharamsala, but whose skills on the slow Lucknow surface – the very surface that has stopped the IPL batsmen this year – could make him a more dangerous weapon than another seamer.

CAN AFGHANISTAN SHOOT AS A UNIT?

For Afghanistan, this task is more fundamental. They need someone to bat alongside Gurbaz, not behind him. The opener was outstanding in Dharamsala – 102 off 51 balls, the fastest century in Afghanistan’s ODI history, the second fastest ever against India – and yet the innings ended with his side all out for 194. The remaining ten batsmen managed 80 runs between them. Rashid Khan and Allah Ghazanfar will probe the Indian middle-order on a surface that suits them, but Afghanistan cannot expect one man to last an entire innings in a full 50-over match like Gurbaz in a shortened 25.

LUCKNOW PITCH AND CONDITIONS

The surface of Ekana is a different animal than the flat road of Dharamsala. The ground is a mix of red and black which holds the wicket tight, restricts pace over the surface and offers real help with spin in the middle overs. The average first innings score here in ODIs is around 213 – well below what modern batsmen have on good tracks – and the chasing teams have won five of the nine ODIs played on this ground, which will influence the draw. With afternoon temperatures in the 40s, the evening session will be more batsman-friendly, lending an extra twist to the chasing side. There is no threat of rain. A complete 50 over match is virtually certain.

IND vs AFG PREDICTED XIs

India: Shubman Gill (c), Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan (wk), Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Washington Sundar, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harsh Dubey, Gurnoor Brar, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna (Kuldeep Yadav might come to this surface) Krishna

Afghanistan: Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Sediqullah Atal, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Azmatullah Omarzai, Ikram Alikhil (wk), Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi, Allah Ghazanfar, Ziaur Rahman

– The end

Issued by:

Akshay Ramesh

Published on:

17 Jun 2026 08:37 IST