The ongoing struggle of Sharma the Test batter

Poor form and captaincy issues could be two unrelated things as Rohit falls for another low score on day four in Brisbane on Tuesday

- GOMESH S @ Brisbane

ND just like that Rohit Sharma was taking the long walk back at the Gabba. For the third time in this series, the Indian captain had failed with the bat, and this one, on yet another overcast morning in Brisbane, felt the longest. It felt like he didn't want to leave, nor did he have a clue as to why it was happening again and again. There was a sense of frustration and helplessness as Sharma dropped off his gloves at the boundary before going into the dugout and dressing room.

Once again, Sharma had gotten out trying to defend a ball just outside off-stump. It was his chance to own up and rescue the team, especially after the way things went in the first innings with the ball. But his poor run since the home season began does not seem to be stopping as India, trailing by 371 runs when Sharma fell, were in deep trouble.

Sharma, meanwhile, has bigger concerns. There have been multiple theories about the causation and correlation between his dip in red-ball form and Test captaincy. However, while trying to understand them one term comes to mind - Post hoc ergo proper hoc. The phrase translated from Latin means 'after this, therefore because of this,' the fallacy in assuming that one event causes another because it happened before the other.

Sharma's poor form might not be the root cause behind his 'passive' captaincy and vice versa might not be true either. The Indian captain, in red-ball cricket, has always been the way he is but when they play at home their resources make up for it. R Ashwin, on many occasions, has thinking the game is gone but he and the spinners (or batters) bounce back to win at home. And when a team wins, captaincy seldom gets questioned. Sharma's first stint at captaincy in overseas Tests was the 2023 WTC final against Australia and the cracks were clearly visible. It has continued in South Africa, Adelaide and Brisbane as well.