India captain Rohit Sharma denied any speculation surrounding retirement and resigning as captain, after missing out on the final Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia at Sydney. According to Sharma, he neither “rested” nor was dropped, and has not retired; he just “stood down.”
“I stood down, that is what I would say,” Rohit said during the Lunch break on Day 2 of the Sydney Test to Star Sports. He explained his reason for not playing in the match, adding that he was not in form and it was needed for the team to be comprised of players who are in form. “I was not scoring runs, we needed players in form.”. You cannot carry out-of-form players for too long,” he said. Rohit took the responsibility of informing head coach Gautam Gambhir and chief selector Ajit Agarkar of his decision, stating, “It was my duty to inform the coach and selector about my thoughts. They said, ‘You’ve been playing for a long time, you take the call.’ It was a difficult choice but for the team’s sake it was the right decision to take the team forward.”
Though toiling with the bat, managing only 31 runs in five innings of the series, losing his form over the last one year, Rohit claimed that his decision was not on retirement. “The decision is not to retire. I am not going to step aside as captain. I have decided to step aside from this Test because I’m not scoring,” he clarified.
He admitted being in pathetic form in Test cricket, saying his worst year in the format has been 2024 – an average of 24.76.
Rohit, who is essentially a mainstay in limited-overs cricket, said that this break would help him regain his rhythm. “There is no guarantee that I won’t score runs after two months or five months.”. I have seen things happen like this many times, he explained, also being realistic about his performance. Even while sitting the entire series, Rohit maintained active participation. During the Day 2 drinks break, Rohit went in and had quite animated talk to the stand-in skipper, Jasprit Bumrah and wicket-keeper-batman Rishabh Pant. It is reflective of Rohit’s leadership for his participation also reflected on strategies with the side while he wasn’t playing either. When presenter Jatin Sapru gave him an emotional farewell for his selfless act, Rohit humorously interrupted, saying, “I’m not going anywhere,” much to the amusement of Sapru and Irfan Pathan.
