Sydney, Jan 3, 2025-
Former India head coach Ravi Shastri has predicted that Rohit Sharma might just end his Test career after the ongoing fifth Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground, where he opted to rest. In his absence, Jasprit Bumrah is leading the side, with Shubman Gill coming into the playing eleven.
Rohit has averaged just 6.2 runs in the three Tests he played with the highest score of 10. Speculation around him not playing at Sydney emerged after head coach Gautam Gambhir refused to term him as a guaranteed starter for the game in Sydney.
Bumrah, who captained India to a 295-run win in Perth when Rohit missed the game due to paternity leave, said at the toss that the right-handed opener himself opted out of playing the game, which the visitors’ need to win to draw the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series, and added that there was no selfishness behind it.
“It still is a brave call for a captain to own up and say, ‘I’m prepared to take the bench in this game.’ If there was a home season coming up he might’ve thought of carrying on, but I think he might just pull the plug at the end of this Test. He’s not getting younger … it’s not that India don’t have youngsters. There are very, very good players in the wings and it’s time to build. Tough decisions, but there is a time for everything,” said Shastri on Fox Sports.
If Rohit eventually ends his Test career, he would sign off with 4301 runs in 67 Tests at an average of 40.57 with 12 hundreds and 18 fifties. After hitting a hundred on debut in 2013, Rohit was in and out of the Test team, before his career revived as an opener in 2019.
As an opener, Rohit enjoyed a successful phase in his Test career, amassing 2697 runs at an average of 42.80, including hitting nine hundreds. He also took over as Test captain after Virat Kohli resigned in early 2022 post the 2-1 series loss in South Africa.
Parthiv Patel, the former India wicketkeeper-batter, feels Rohit stepping away from Sydney Test shows how much selfless he is for the team’s best interest. “Basically, there’s one word which is very important, and that is no selfishness. If anyone wanted a proof that Rohit Sharma is not a selfish person and to what extent, he can keep the team above himself, then this is the proof of it.”
“Obviously, the numbers and form are not supporting him – whether it was to open the batting or bat at number six. Every attempt was made to discover form, but you couldn’t contribute anything.”
“Though many people will say that he’s opted to rest or has been dropped, it’s very important to understand that once you decide as the captain to not play the Test match, then the person himself is involved in the decision making.”
“Here, no one has dropped you and that the captain has the choice – so that’s why opted out is the right word to describe this situation. For that, Rohit Sharma has to be credited as he himself felt he’s not good enough amongst the 11, 15 or 16 players in the squad and stepped aside,” he said on Cricbuzz.(Agency)
