Rohit Sharma is India's future

Watching this seasons IPl it is evident that Rohit Sharma is a man on a mission. His aim is to cement his place in the limited over squads and to make the step up into test cricket. It is a little surprising that a player with his ability has yet to grace test cricket, especially as he is now twenty six years of age. 

For many years people have dubbed Rohit as the next Sachin Tendulkar, this unfair comparison may have affected his past performances resulting in him being in and out of squad. It seems that Sachin is now very close to calling it a day in all forms of cricket and a possible replacement for him could be Rohit Sharma. The poor form of the other openers (Sehwag & Gambhir) resulted in him being drafted into the openers role for the last ODI series against England. This was a very interesting move, as  he was given the  chance after the much fancied Rahane had failed.  

In limited overs cricket I see him being an opener, this suits his game very well. I feel he is ready for test cricket and a position at either number four or five should be an option. This season Rohit has seemed to mature as a player, taking over as captain of Mumbai Indians in place of Ricky Ponting. When he was appointed as the captain I was unsure if he could handle the demands of the position, especially for Mumbai the most glamorous side in the IPL. Although he has not had too many tests of his captaincy he seems to be calm and confident with his decision making. 

Other than being a good batsman and captain he is also a stand out player. His batting form has also shown consistency, him having the sixth highest average in the IPL this season. Out of the other five players above him in the list only Chris Gayle has played as many innings. One could argue that his form has been more consistent than Gayle as the West Indian has his average inflated by that one big innings of 175 not out. 

Below is a table showing his career:

	Matches	Innings	Runs	Highest Score	Average	Strike Rate
ODI	88	83	2,065	114	30.82	78.22
T20	35	28	531	79	29.5	127.64
IPL	90	86	2405	109	33.87	132.14

The above table highlights both his huge potential as well as his inconsistent form. It shows that he can score quickly as well as heavily, the batting average in ODI cricket shows there is space for improvement. 

If I were to do a straw pole of Indian cricket fans I am pretty sure that most of them would say that Kohli is the best young player. I do not disagree with this statement but feel an argument could be made to support Sharma's case.  It all bodes for exciting times for Indian cricket, taking many back to the early days of the last great group of players. Comparisons of Sharma, Raina, Kohli, Pujara and Dhawan could be made to Sachin, Ganguly, Sehwag, Laxman and Dravid.

There could be another argument in the future about the next captain. Right now vice captain Kohli is a shoe in for the role, but if the selectors go against his overly aggressive style then again Sharma or Raina are an option. Like Tendulkar he oozes class when batting, the only issue is if he can handle the pressure. The future for Rohit Sharma looks very positive, it is all in his own hands as to how much of a name he could make.