India captain Rohit Sharma, on Thursday, reportedly ‘opted out’ of the fifth and final Test against Australia of the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy series. A poor run of form in the last eight Test matches forced the 37-year-old to inform head coach Gautam Gambhir and chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar that he will not play the match in Sydney, which will begin on Friday. If the report holds true, he will become the first Indian skipper to be dropped midway through an international series.
Rohit came under fire after managing just 164 runs across eight matches since September, including a solitary fifty. In fact, he hasn’t scored more than 18 runs in the last 10 innings, including his run in the home series against New Zealand, which India lost by an unprecedented margin of 0-3.
In Australia, Rohit missed the series opener in Perth owing to the birth of his second child. In his stead, KL Rahul put on an impressive show as an opener. With Rohit decided not to unsettle Rahul, who finally managed to find his groove in the Test format, the India captain slotted himself at No. 6. But his poor run continued in Adelaide and Brisbane, and it failed to change even as he returned as an opener in the fourth Test in Melbourne last week. Another double failure at the MCG saw Rohit record an average of just 6.20 in the ongoing relies, the worst-ever figure by a visiting captain in Australia.
The woeful run sparked discussions on Rohit’s future in terms of format and whether he will be featured in the XI for the Sydney Test. But while Gambhir stayed tight-lipped on India’s plans, Rohit reportedly opted out of the match, thus making way for Shubman Gill back in line-up, with KL Rahul slated to return as opener.
List of captains to get dropped in the middle of an international series
If Rohit does get dropped on Friday, he will become the first Indian captain to be benched in the middle of an international series and the first overall since 2014 when Pakistan’s Misbah-ul-Haq dropped himself from the third ODI against Australia, leaving Shahid Afridi to lead the team in his stead. In the same year, Dinesh Chandimal took a call to sit out of the Sri Lankan line-up for the final three matches in the T20 World Cup, including the semi-final and final. Lasith Malinga took over the captaincy duties for those games.
The first-ever instance of a captain getting dropped from the XI during an international series happened in the 1974 Ashes when England’s Mike Denness opted out of the fourth Test, with John Edrich leading the side. However, he had made a remarkable comeback in the following Test in Adelaide, scoring a fifty in the first innings, before smashing a valiant 181 in the final tie at the MCG as England scripted an innings victory.
