There was no room for the regular Test captain, Rohit Sharma, in the team sheet of the fifth and final red-ball clash of the Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25 at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) on New Year. On the eve of the game, the leader of the touring side didn’t turn up for the clash, which saw their head coach, Gautam Gambhir, not making confirmation of the captain’s position.
Rohit Sharma didn’t walk out for a toss in the opening morning of the game as Jasprit Bumrah replaced him in the position. The Ahmedabad-born had already captained the touring side during the first game of the five-match series at the Optus Stadium in Perth, which they went on to lose 295 runs. The official news was that the opening batter of India decided to rest him for the series decider.
There was no official word from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) either through a press release or a social media post, but the team sheet didn’t have the name of the batter even in the reserve player’s list.
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The young opening batter of the side, Shubman Gill, replaced Rohit Sharma in the playing eleven, with the latter collecting just 31 runs in five innings at an average of 6.20 in the entire series. The Karnataka pacer, Prasidh Krishna, replaced the injured Akash Deep. The former T20I batter of the side finished the previous year with an average of just 24, shouldering on two centuries and as many half-centuries.
Rohit Sharma engaged in a heated chat with head coach Gautam Gambhir- reports
However, the form of the 37-year-old dropped from the three Tests at home against New Zealand when he collected just 91 runs in six innings at an average of 15 with one half-century on his name. He avoided an open discussion with the coach on the eve of the New Year’s Test besides being seen to be involved in an animated chat with the former Delhi batter at the start of the Pink Test.
The veteran batter was also very late in the practice session the day before the start of the red-ball clash, which made it clear that he would sit out. The speculation over his future in the longest format gained momentum after the visitors lost the fourth of the five-match series at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) to be behind in the series with a 1-2 series margin.
It could be an end for Rohit Sharma in the roller coaster Test career. He notched up 1766 runs away from home in 61 Test innings at an average of around 31 with the help of two centuries and ten half-centuries. In this comparison, the experienced batter nailed 2535 Test runs in 55 innings at an average of nearly 52 with a strike rate of 65 with the help of ten centuries and eight half-centuries.
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However, it was not a great start for India with the bat as they were folded up for just 185 runs on one of the toughest surfaces, Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja contributed a little but couldn’t last long. Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, and the two openers failed. It was Bumrah’s class who ended the day on a high for India, as he found the outside edge of opener Usman Khawaja into the hands of the second slip fielder.
India needs to win the game to retain the Border Gavaskar Trophy and also keep themselves alive for the World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-25 final qualification scenario.