For Rohit Sharma, every game is like playing his first match and last match at the same time

But unlike in his youth, the selectors would bestow little allowance of time, their patience would dry faster than ink on a blotting paper. In a bafflingly interrupted career, Rohit is a well-worn traveller through this lane, far too familiar with its treacherous bends and corners to be overwhelmed. He meets all the challenges with a smile, and sheets of steel beneath. Beneath the silk of the strokes, is a coat of fierce defiance, of a self-made cricketer.

Few other modern-day cricketers of his country had to make as many comebacks or prove themselves as many times as Rohit had, in his 18-year-old career. For half a decade since his entry to international cricket, he tussled with the talented-but-laidback misconception; he passed through an endless lost-and-found cycle; he donned several roles until he found his true calling of opening the innings. He was not a natural and a flawed one, for its deceitful portfolio. But he strove and succeeded, making an impressive career as a Test opener too.

Doubts still lingered, can he succeed overseas? Can he flourish on the big stage? Can he tame James Anderson and Stuart Broad in England? Can he juggle the captaincy chores and batting? In a taxing but rewarding decade, he ticked all the boxes. His Test numbers betray a sense of unfulfillment, a late-blooming arc, but against the white ball, he was one of the finest of his era. In ICC tournaments, he was as prolific and influential as his great contemporary, Virat Kohli (fourth highest run-getter in World Cups) and owns more hundreds in those tournaments than Sachin Tendulkar.

Yet, the spectre of the past could lose its lustre in the capricious present. Besides, Australia could be where a batsman from Asia could feel his age or twice the number, when he would feel the revoltingly slow reflexes, the disobedient hands, the lethargic feet and the drained mind in extreme degrees. The conditions daunted him in Perth, but less than a week later, he cracked a half-century and an undefeated hundred to not only pocket the player of the series trophy, but to assert that the rumours of his decline are exaggerated, that he still could reel out runs abroad. Adelaide and Sydney were not as challenging as Perth, but were not absolute shirtfronts either.

Midway through the Adelaide knock, he regathered his bearings. Perhaps, the catalyst was the lofted off-drive off Josh Hazlewood, when he shimmied out of the crease and coaxed him over mid-off. The feet had begun to dance, the hands shed its rigidness, the balance and poise had been restored, and the runs began to flow. Even though a false shot ended his Adelaide resurgence, he continued in the same vein in Sydney, where he batted somewhere closer to his peak, with a dainty smile on his face.

Rohit Sharma brings up a fine century on the SCG! What a moment for him. #AUSvIND | #PlayoftheDay | @BKTtires pic.twitter.com/p01PjA35dp

— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) October 25, 2025

En route the smooth ride, he casually proved that he still has the game, will and temperament to score a hundred. That he has the fight and mentality; that his reverting to the old ideals of systematic than chaotic aggression would usher in an autumnal bloom, and could probably offer one last shot at glory that has eluded him, a 50-over World Cup triumph that could paint his career with perfection, the crowning jewel in his mantlepiece.

His match‑winning 121 on Saturday was not his greatest white-ball innings, but it was simply a Rohit Sharma innings, a victory of timing over power, manoeuvrability over muscularity, a triumph of pure talent.

But the infrequency of ODIs would mean that Rohit, as well as Virat Kohli, would have to prove that they are supreme enough, not merely good enough, to own the spots. The breaks between the series could be vast, the scrutiny could be vaster, the process of ageing will accelerate, reaction times would dwindle and muscle mass would reduce, there could be more aches and sores. One bad injury could end it all. The team management could be tempted to blood youngsters; Yashasvi Jaiswal and Abhishek Sharma are waiting impatiently. One bad series could thrust them to the exit door. The uncertainty could be suffocating.

In a sense, it’s like making their debut every time they walk out to bat in a new series. It is Rohit’s perception when he landed in Perth too. “When we arrived in Perth, I forgot what has happened in the last 15-17 years, wanted to start fresh, and that’s how I personally look at all the games that I’ve played. I’m sure it’ll be the same for Virat as well, but I enjoyed playing these three games.”

At its heart, like in the dark days of 2012, he would have realised that it’s a battle he has to fight himself. He had once told this paper: ” (In 2012), I figured that it’s just my battle and I shouldn’t be expecting that anyone would come and help me. That I need to figure it out on my own. That I have to create my own path from my own struggle. That trait was inbuilt: figure out a way out of any problem, don’t go looking for people to help you.”

It’s the same mentality that burns in him to sustain his last meaningful link to the game he has given his life to. But for that, he has to prove the things that he has proved a thousand times. And that makes the sportsman riding his sunset the most fascinating of them all.