The ongoing Test season since the start of the opening Chennai red-ball fixture against Bangladesh has been really cold for the current captain and opening batter of the national side, Rohit Sharma, whose struggle against both pace and spin has been witnessed all around the globe. The right-handed batter is yet to get a half-century in his last seven innings.
Rohit Sharma managed just 91 runs at home in six innings against New Zealand at an average of just over 15 with one half-century during the opening game at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. Since then, he didn’t have much answer against the Kiwi spinners of the friendly home surfaces.
The pressure has been getting high on the Nagpur-born, who missed the first of the five-match series of the Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25 at the Optus Stadium in Perth, which the visiting side went on to win by 295 runs. On his return in the pink-ball Test at the Adelaide Oval, he didn’t find the rhythm at all.
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Rohit Sharma walked into the day-night contest in the twilight session where he, somehow, managed to see the first few balls of Mitchell Starc before their first break, but it didn’t last long as he was trapped leg before the stumps against Scott Boland. In the second innings, under the full effect of the floodlights, he was taken aback by the very first short ball from Starc.
Sunil Gavaskar confirms Rohit Sharma to step down as Indian Test captain
Even though he was saved on a golden duck before smashing a boundary, the conundrum continued as his opponent number, Pat Cummins, the Australian captain, squared him up to break the middle stump of the batter.
Rohit Sharma left his opening spot in the series after the 200-run opening stand between KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal in the second innings of Perth, as he dropped himself down at number six. But now his middle-order struggle continues to grow, as he managed only 19 runs in the three innings, with questions and voices starting to rise over his position in the format.
In the ongoing year, the Mumbai batter has 607 runs in 24 innings at an average of 26.39 and a strike rate of 64.78 with two centuries and two fifties. That’s his lowest average since 2018 when he returned to the side as an opening batter.
The batting woes have also contributed to the captaincy failure of Rohit Sharma, who hasn’t been up to the mark in setting the field and making the right changes in the bowling department.
The former Indian captain, Sunil Gavaskar, during his interaction on the fifth day of the Gabba Test, reckoned that the current Indian captain won’t be waiting for the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee to push him to step down as the leader of the side.
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“I think Rohit obviously will get the opportunity to play in the next couple of matches, that’s for sure. But maybe at the end of it, if he hasn’t scored runs, my feeling is that he will take the call. He’s a very conscientious cricketer, he will not want to be a burden on the team. He’s a cricketer who cares very deeply for Indian cricket.” The former opening batter for India addressed to ABC Sports.
“So if he doesn’t score runs in the next couple of games, I think he will step down,” Gavaskar added.
It’s high time for the 37-year-old to put up a huge score as the attention moves to the Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).