Team India captain Rohit Sharma’s name was missing from the playing line-up for the fifth and final Test against Australia in the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) series. There has been a lot of speculation about Rohit Sharma’s future in the format, but the veteran opener is not thinking of retirement as of now.
Rohit’s poor form worried the Indian team management. After missing the first test, he was sixth in the second match. He recorded scores of 3, 6 and 10 before returning to the top of the order. However, he only managed to score 3 and 9 in the MCG Test, which India lost by 184 runs.
Our captain showed his leadership – Jasprit Bumrah
Jasprit Bumrah, the vice-captain of the team, was seen wearing the captain’s jacket at the toss. Bumrah declared that Rohit had given up the match. But Rohit’s name was not even in the list of five reserves for the match. The 38-year-old did not join the team during the national anthem ceremony.
“Our captain showed his leadership, he decided to rest this game. So it shows that there is a lot of unity in our team, there is no selfishness, whatever is in the best interest of the team, we want to do it,” Bumrah said at the toss.
Team India Playing XI for fifth Border Gavaskar Test: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Shubhman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Prasidh Krishna, Jasprit Bumrah (c), Mohammed Siraj
Rohit Sharma no more thinking about retirement – report
There are debates over whether the Melbourne Test was Rohit Sharma’s last appearance. However, RevSportz journalist Rohit Juglan clarified that Rohit is not currently thinking about retirement. He added that only time would tell if Melbourne was his last Test match.
“Pause – Rohit Sharma not thinking about retirement for now. Time will tell if Melbourne was his last or not – but for now he’s not retiring,” Rohit Juglan wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter).
Break – Rohit Sharma is not thinking about retirement for now
Time will tell whether or not Melbourne was his last – but for now, he’s not backing down— Рохит жуглан Rohit Juglan (@rohitjuglan) January 2, 2025
He might just pull the plug at the end of this Test – Ravi Shastri
Former India head coach Ravi Shastri has said that Rohit Sharma may retire from Test cricket after the Sydney Test. Speaking during the first day’s play, Shastri added that Rohit might decide to retire after this match, with no upcoming home Test series. He praised Rohit for potentially taking a brave decision.
“It’s still a brave call for a captain to admit and say, ‘I’m ready to take the bench in this game,'” Shastri said (via ABC ).
“If the domestic season was coming, he might think about continuing, but I think he might call it quits at the end of this Test. He’s not getting any younger … it’s not like India don’t have youngsters. They’re very, very good wingers and it’s time for tough decisions, but for there is time for everything,” he added.
Also read: ICC Champions Trophy 2025: Virat Kohli-Rohit Sharma’s future is set
