Social media castigation of Rohit-Kohli after Perth failure is symptomatic of malaise - in reality nothing is lost

Rohit Sharma reacts after getting out in the first ODI between India and Australia in Perth. (AFP Photo)

Did anyone really expect Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma to fire from game one in Australia? I did not for it would have been a bit too much to hope for. In fact, neither did I expect the top order to do well after Gill lost the toss in Perth. These are real challenging conditions to bat and Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood were both getting bounce and movement with some balls taken chest high by the wicketkeeper.

In such conditions, it is always a tough ask. And the ball that got Rohit out could have taken down any batter. It pitched and literally jumped up and by the time Rohit realised the extra bounce, he was committed to the shot. There was no time to move the bat away and he ended up giving an easy catch. It was one of those deliveries you can’t do much about, except hope that the edge doesn’t go to hand.

In Pics | Virat Kohli to Rohit Sharma: 5 Indian cricketers with more ODI hundreds than Sachin Tendulkar in Australia

Virat on the other hand fell to the outside off-stump habit. He wasn’t able to get off the mark in the first seven balls and the temptation to do so got the better off him. The ball was pushed wide outside off and he went for a booming drive to end up at point. Except the one drive which went to mid-off, Virat looked rusty.

The truth is both of these batters need game time. There is no substitute for it however good you are, and unless they spend time in the middle it will not work. At the same time there is just no reason to castigate them after one game. Such things are irrational and unfair and make little sense. Even Gill got out cheap and any team batting first at Perth after losing the toss always run the risk of losing early wickets against a quality attack.

The next few days will continue to be about Rohit and Virat. Now the narrative will be about both of them being over the hill and don’t deserve a place in the team going forward. Such is the nature of social media that one failure is enough to form an opinion. There is no reason to apply logic and take into account the conditions on offer. No reason to even think that the bowlers are the best the world has seen and the ball to Rohit was a jaffer. None of these things matter when you have 140 characters at your fingertips to take down legends like these two. It is your agency to call them names and ask them to quit. Little do you realise that by doing so you are actually telling the world how naïve you are and how much you don’t understand the sport.

Also Read | Killing of innocent Afghan cricketers should be enough to ban Pakistan from international sport

Yes, Rohit and Virat have failed in the first game. Gill too has failed. But it doesn’t mean they don’t have the game or are done with. Such talk is cheap and don’t help. You have to give people time and these two aren’t any different. This isn’t an easy sport to play and more so in overseas conditions like Perth. We need to not lose perspective but then did we ever have perspective in an age of social media madness?