Will Wankhede help Rohit Sharma get mojo back?

India captain Rohit Sharma during the second Test v New Zealand in Pune on Saturday. Pic/PTI

When Rohit Sharma set foot in Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium for the first time more than two decades back as a teenager, he would hardly have imagined that one day, he would be leading his country in a Test match there. The 37-year-old has captained India previously at the iconic venue where, in his absence, the team lifted the 50-over World Cup trophy in 2011, but to helm the nation in a Test at a ground where he cut his teeth as a cricketer must be special.

That century in 2013

In one of those amazing truisms that defy logic, Rohit has played just one of his previous 63 Tests at the Wankhede - in November 2013 against West Indies, only his second Test appearance. It was also Sachin Tendulkar's final game for India, a fact which almost eclipsed Rohit's unbeaten 111, his second successive ton since his Test debut.

Nearly 11 years on, Rohit will have plenty on his plate when the third Test against New Zealand gets underway on Friday. For one thing, he has become the first Indian captain since Mahendra Singh Dhoni in December 2012 to have overseen a Test series loss at home. For another, tongues are starting to wag about his personal form - in eight innings this home season, he has a highest of 52 and six single-digit scores which, combined with the unbeatable 2-0 advantage the Kiwis hold, has magnified the scrutiny on India's captain.

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Less than a year back, Rohit masterminded a stirring 50-over World Cup campaign which eventually ended in heartbreak in Ahmedabad. This June, he steered India to their first ICC title since 2013 at the T20 World Cup in Bridgetown. These two events bookended a wonderful come-from-behind 4-1 Test rout of England series at home, Rohit scoring hundreds in two of the last three outings.

Providing starts, the key

In a world where public memory is short and where Indian defeats, particularly at home, are frowned upon, it is inevitable that these stirring heights will be cast aside and the focus will be on the present. More than anyone else, Rohit will be aware of the need to begin stacking up the scores - not to silence the critics or to prove a point, but to provide the starts his team have desperately lacked for most of the four Tests against Bangladesh and New Zealand over the last six weeks.

Despite the massive strides he has made as a Test opener since being elevated to that position five years ago, Rohit is still vulnerable, like all batters, on or outside off early in the piece. Hasan Mahmud, Taskin Ahmed and Tim Southee (twice) have fired him out with the new ball; Rohit will want to get his own back in front of his home crowd and settle into a nice rhythm ahead of the five-Test series in Australia from next month.

Familiarity with the red-clay strip at the Wankhede should be his ally. Rohit hasn't been one for numbers or individual accomplishments, but it won't be the worst idea if the skipper chooses to knuckle down and add to his tally of 12 Test centuries.