India captain Rohit Sharma on Friday "opted to rest" himself from the fifth and final Test against Australia here after a string of underwhelming performances, putting a question mark on his future in the longest format.
Rohit became the first India skipper to opt out of a game on account of his own poor form, handing his deputy Jasprit Bumrah the leadership role. Bumrah had captained the side in the series-opener as well when Rohit took a short paternity break.
India won that match in Perth by 295 runs, their only victory on the tour so far.
"Our captain has shown leadership, he has opted to rest," said Bumrah at the toss that India won and opted to bat.
"It shows the unity we have in the team," he added in front of a packed arena.
Rohit chose to put the bat down after scoring 31 runs in five innings across three Tests.
The 37-year-old white-ball great looked like a pale shadow of himself in those innings, struggling to execute even his bread and butter shots including the trademark front foot pull.
During the customary pre-match warm-up session, Rohit was seen playing football with Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant and Sarfaraz Khan, who is ending the series without getting a game.
However, Rohit was then caught in a chat with the team's video analyst Hari Prasad after which he moved out of the outfield almost at the toss time when Bumrah walked out to a deafening roar from the capacity crowd.
When the TV cameras panned on him, Rohit was seen sitting outside the dressing room with fielding coach Ryan Ten Doeschate by his side. Head coach Gautam Gambhir sat a distance from the duo.
Former India player Sanjay Manjrekar lauded Rohit for his decision.
"So typical of Rohit Sharma. Doing the right thing, doing what's right for the team. But could not understand the 'cloak & dagger' around the issue. Wasn't even talked about at the toss," he posted on 'X'.
Looking at India's practice session on the eve of the game it was clear that Rohit was going to sit out.
Speculation over his future in the longest format, too, received an impetus when India let the fourth Test in Melbourne slip and were staring at losing a five-match contest 1-2.
But, it didn't matter with Rohit becoming the least active cricketer for India of 2024 with 619 runs in just 26 innings of 14 Tests with average 24.76.
Having played his 67th five-day game in Melbourne, Rohit is also being expected to call time on his roller-coaster Test career soon.
Rohit could not replicate his stellar success in white ball cricket over the course of his 11-year Test career.
After not being able to realise his potential in the middle-order following his debut in 2013, Rohit's red ball career got a second wing in 2019 when he started opening.
Last year Rohit guided India to a much-awaited T20 World Cup title but his performances dropped drastically in the traditional format.
Virat Kohli, long-time teammate and former captain, is also under criticism for being dismissed outside off-stump on multiple occasions in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy thus far.
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