He was poised to make his Test debut last February when fate struck a cruel blow. A freak injury on the eve of the opening Test against South Africa in Nagpur meant Rohit Sharma was ruled out of the match, thereby ensuring an unexpected debut for Wriddhiman Saha.

Twenty-one months later, the talented batsman was given a fresh hope with the selectors naming him in the squad - in place of Yuvraj Singh - for the third and final Test against West Indies. A debut was not to be, because Rohit was in the queue behind Virat Kohli who was already in the squad.

There is no doubting that Rohit has earned his spot for the upcoming to Australia. Having been in and out of the limited-overs squad, he seemed to have taken a step closer to cementing his place in the ODI team after a Man-of-the-Series performance in the West Indies this year, but an injury to his hand cut short Rohit's England tour. Now, after a stellar start to the 2011-12 Ranji Trophy season, Rohit has contributed a match-winning knock in the first ODI against West Indies to prove that he's one for the future.

To those who has followed Rohit's career, it is known that he has got off to starts and has all the shots in the book. But what he also had, going into Tuesday's ODI, was 10 dismissals between scores of 20 and 40, and three between 40 and 50, out of his 64 ODI innings.

Rohit had faced this issue in the Ranji Trophy as well: he would all too often gets starts but not convert them. Of the 527 runs that he scored in the 2009-10 season, 410 came in three innings alone. In 2010-2011, 441 of his 732 runs came in two innings. Apart from one innings in each season, Rohit had got starts in every match.

His back-to-back centuries for Mumbai, and now the polished 63 in Cuttack, indicate that he has corrected his temperament to back up his talent with hunger. This is the correct time to blood him for the important upcoming tour against the Aussies, realized the selectors.

India has a perfect mix of youth and experience for Australia and the likes of Rohit, Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane will gain invaluable experience from veterans such as Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman. Although Rohit had a superb run in the Ranji Trophy, the Australia tour will be a litmus test for him. Considering the talented Cheteshwar Pujara is waiting in the wings, this can be seen as a last opportunity for Rohit to try and make that No.6 slot his own.

If not for his unfortunate injury, Pujara might have been a regular in the Test side and the experiments with Suresh Raina and Yuvraj would have ceased. The duo has struggled consistently and Rohit should grasp this opportunity with both the hands and send a strong message across to the selectors.

There used to be a streak of restlessness about Rohit, which often let not just him but his team down through simply injudicious strokeplay or sheer lethargy. He surely has questions to answer and he should understand his responsibility for the team. Responsibility is something that Rohit should enjoy. Reading game situations is something he should understand better.

In the past he has failed to convert fifties into hundreds and build on the start he got but today appears to have realized the importance of batting long and putting a price tag on his wicket. There are situations when your team expects you to stand up and take that responsibility; if Rohit understands this in Australia, surely he will make a name for himself in the Test squad.