Coming into the ODI series against England which served as a dress rehearsal for the 2025 Champions Trophy, all eyes of Indian cricket fans were on skipper Rohit Sharma after the 37-year-old's wretched run of form which ultimately led to him deciding to take the unprecedented move of not being part of the playing XI in the final match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy last month.

Although, Rohit's struggles were in Test cricket and in ODI cricket, he is not just one of the greatest players ever but also has been in golden form with a stunning 2023 Cricket World Cup campaign in which he finished as the second-highest run-getter. In India's sole ODI series in 2024, Rohit was the top run-getter and got two half-centuries. No other Indian player crossed the the 50 mark even once.

However, runs had deserted Rohit since September in Test cricket which had many concerned ahead of the Champions Trophy. In the 2024-25 season, Rohit made just 164 runs in 15 innings at an average of 10.93. The Indian captain's average is the lowest in a season in Test cricket history for a batter, who played 15 or more innings.

Concerns grew over Rohit's form after he failed to get a big knock on his Ranji Trophy comeback for Mumbai against Jammu & Kashmir as he made scores of just 3 and 28 at the Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC). The Indian captain was dismissed for just two runs in the first ODI against England in Nagpur adding to his woes.

With criticism coming form all corners and just two matches left before India flew to Dubai for the Champions Trophy, Rohit roared back into form with his 32nd ODI century in the second match at Cuttack. The 37-year-old was at his vintage best with a knock of 119 in just 90 balls.

Rohit's Mumbai teammate Shardul Thakur revealed that the Indian cricket superstar predicted his resurgence during a chat while the Ranji Trophy match was on. Shardul further stated that Rohit was in good touch with the bat in the nets and luck was not favouring him during the lean run of form.

"He played during Jammu and Kashmir Ranji Trophy game and failed to score runs. He could not also score runs in Australia Tests as well. So we were talking normally. I told him a couple of things. He said, 'Nahi re, mujhe pata hai. Abhi nahi ho raha hai run, but ek innings chahiye mujhe phir mera run ho jayega. (No buddy. I know I am unable to score runs currently, but I need just one innings to get back to form)," Shardul told RevSportz.

"He is an opener, so any opener could get out with a new ball. And if you are getting out at a score of 10 or less, I don't think it needs to be judged. He is such a big player, has won so many games for India. As a friend and spectator, I am always confident that he will perform at the right time. The way he was batting in the nets. Nothing looked bad with his batting. He was looking extremely comfortably batting in the nets. It was just a matter of poor luck that runs were not coming," Shardul added.

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