Even as the rumours continue to swirl about what the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has in mind for Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, the start of the ODI series against South Africa in Ranchi has a special significance for both men. When they took their first steps in the game, three decades ago, Ranchi wasn’t even a blip on the cricket map. Now, thanks in no small measure to the exploits of a certain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Ranchi is an international venue.
For Kohli and Rohit, Dhoni wasn’t just a senior player whom they admired. He was the captain who largely helped chart the course for their careers. Apart from his ODI debut in Ireland when Rahul Dravid was still captain, Rohit played his first games in Tests and T20Is under Dhoni. It was no different for Kohli. Suresh Raina was his first T20I captain, but in the two longer formats, Dhoni was the man at the helm when he broke into the XI.
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To say that his influence on the two youngsters was profound would be an understatement. In ODIs, the only format that the duo continue to play for India, he was their captain for over a decade. Kohli played under Dhoni in 138 of his 305 ODIs, while the proportion for Rohit was 122 out of 276. Both won their first major trophies under his leadership too – the World T20 in 2007 for Rohit, and the 2011 World Cup for Kohli.
But the Ranchi connection doesn’t end with Dhoni. For Kohli, it was the setting for two of his 51 ODI centuries – 139 not out against Sri Lanka in 2014 and 123 against Australia in 2019. The second remains one of his finest knocks, with Kohli nearly pulling off an audacious chase despite no teammate crossing 32.
As for Rohit, it was at the Jharkhand Cricket Association Stadium in 2019 that he made his highest Test score, a monumental 212 in an innings victory where South Africa managed just 295 runs across their two innings. Rohit smashed 28 fours and six sixes in a blazing 255-ball knock. To put that into perspective, the entire Indian team struck just 56 fours and 13 sixes in the just-concluded two-Test series.
And while Indian cricket can no longer afford to look back, fans left demoralised by the Test decline will hope that the two biggest names can still set the field afire at a venue that stores so many good memories for both.
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