Mumbai (Maharashtra): Rohit Sharma, our blade runner with the Midas touch; our laidback aggressor, our skipper with a thinking mind; our selfless leader who has come up the ranks through a common man’s journey. Our man who was dropped from the 2011 team selection. Our man who scored a dizzying five centuries in the 2019 edition. Our man who speaks more with the bat than in words.
Kane Williamson, another man with the Midas touch; another quiet constructionist; another leader of a few good men in Cricket; the nicest guy going in the game; a skipper contesting for Mahendra Singh Dhoni's "Captain Cool" status; a man who comes from a family of sportsperson; a competitor who competes only with himself; a man with a wicked sense of humour and gentle humour.
The two are from opposite sides of the globe, representing opposite cultures, playing opposite each other as skippers for the first time. The similarities between them are as stark as the differences. Yet, the two share the tag of gentlemen of the game in equal measure. Kane Williamson, the absolute contemporary of Virat Kohli since his under-19 days, is known as a batter with zero ego or attitude. He is also known as a stalwart who has instilled a self-effacing facet to the rest of his squad which depends on his bat as much as the more lionised Men in Blue depend on Rohit Sharma and his fiery starts to the innings.
As a captain, Sharma is considered calm, collected, thoughtful and methodical. His in and out status from the Test team often tested his reputation of being a "talent" with limitations and longevity problems. Over the years, he has grown to be a giant, who looks gentle even when he is pulling 103-meter sixes into the stands.
Leadership, on the other hand, came butter smooth to Williamson, apparently in the lead since school. He was always meant to be and New Zealand, where cricket does not fill up stadia the way Rugby does, gave Kane singular rights to lead the game and shape it to the legendary heights of the All Blacks. He carried out the assignment with a quietude that now defines the Black Caps’ thinking.
Like Rohit, Kane can anchor innings, and become a one-man show. He can read where the game is going like a magnifying glass, making strategies and process to be followed crystal clear. Rohit, who grew into captaincy as an understudy of Virat Kohli, gives his very own branding to strategies. His knowledge of the game is deep but not vocal. His processes are simple and workable.
While the aggression in Rohit comes veneered in delectable laziness, Williamson’s vertical builds are often a quiet surety. If Rohit is the "Hitman", Kane's nickname is "steady the ship”. In both cases, it is the blade that talks in all humility. In both men, there is a staying power of unspoken class. Nothing about the two is searing, yet they are the power players.
The polish that Rohit displays in pulling all those effortless sixes to blow away oppositions are matchless, priceless. Kane, on the other hand, is more of a boundaries man, limitless in his acumen and run-getting abilities.
The legendary Martin Crowe called Williamson a man of certainty in ultimate pressure situations, a trait that may give Virat Kohli a run for his tenacity and perseverance. His composure is a result of him stepping out of his self, much like Rohit’s selfless build-ups that may be keeping him away from carefully constructed centuries but giving the team starts they can work on.
If Rohit makes run-getting look incredibly effortless, simple and the easiest thing to do in a cricket field, Kane is method cautious and hides the fire on his bat with a rare certainty of performance. His defence comes across as more solid than that of Sharma whose batting prowess veers more around the brand of cricket Virender Sehwag played, than the way maybe a Steve Smith does. You could call Williamson a clone of Larry Gomes in the context of the way he sticks to the stumps in difficult circumstances and returns as saviour many a time.
While Rohit’s journey in all forms of the game has been a tad difficult, Williamson emerged as heir apparent of Cricket New Zealand ever since he went up the ranks in nationals. Maybe, that was the result of cricket being an underdog in a beautiful country sitting just over the Antarctic expanse where an Edmund Hillary was considered more of a Himalayan summit climber than Kane.
Maybe, it was natural talent that was unmatchable in his country. Maybe, it was tony upbringing in sports. For Rohit, there were no maybes. He was a common man’s son in very common environs. Not close to the game in his growing-up years in Nagpur. He traveled on local trains to reach the ground after long commutes and would often sit with his ordinary bat and pads on for a chance to play. He has learnt to play the hard way and a harder way to come to the top on sheer talent that could not have been missed in a country where cricket is the reigning monarch of sport with several emperors vying for the throne.
Tomorrow, these two greats will be carving their trajectories into the future with similar acumen, similar determination, and similar playing strengths. To say let the best man win will be inappropriate unless you can have two best men.
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