Stats Corner: Struggling Rohit Sharma’s career average dips to a six-year low

Snapped for three in the first innings on his return to opening on Friday, Rohit’s career average dipped to 40.87, a six-year low since the 2018 Boxing Day Test (39.62) at the same venue where he last batted in the middle-order, before his three innings at No. 6 earlier this month.

It now appears as though Rohit’s cataclysmic semester has almost undone the exploits of Rohit, the Test opener, over the last four years. At the start of the home Border-Gavaskar Trophy last year, Rohit’s career average had peaked at 47.20 after meaty contributions as an opener.

The 37-year-old entered 2024 as one of only two openers to average over 50 in the WTC across three cycles. That enviable record has tumbled to 43.35 after playing 22 innings at the top this year.

Rohit remains the most prolific opener in the WTC, with over 2600 runs. Yet the second half of 2024 has dealt an almost irreversible blow.

As a battle ensues with himself, it is remarkable to recap how Rohit towered above other openers in the 32 Tests he played between October 2019 and March 2024. Rohit averaged 50.03 in the period while the overall average of all openers in matches involving him stood at 37.85. He struck nine of the 23 tons by openers in these games, accumulating his runs quicker  (58.39) than the average opener (54.22).

In the first 11 innings between January and March this year, Rohit piled up 411 runs with two centuries against England at home, averaging steadily over 40. Rohit’s return to red-ball cricket after six months and a T20 World Cup win though has been brutal, effectively reducing him to the poorest-performing Indian batter within three months and 14 innings. Rohit has only crossed the 25-run mark once since September, with single-digit dismissals cropping up nine times in 14 innings. In the four years combined before 2024, Rohit had only fallen five times between 0 and 9 in 43 innings.

Coinciding with a year where Rohit’s white-ball career strike rates soared to their highest, his Test returns have dropped to their lowest (43.35) since taking guard as an opener for the first time.

Rohit (29.48) would not have envisioned himself to lie at the bottom of the batting charts, with only Marnus Labuschagne (28.22) possessing a lower average among batters who have played 30 innings this WTC edition.

With three potential innings left on this grinding tour, Rohit has one final opportunity to realign with the compactness that largely dictated his batting in Tests and maintain a 40-plus average for the statistical garnish of his immense body of work since 2019.