Rohit Sharma had endured a forgettable Test tour of Australia earlier this year.
India captain Rohit Sharma recently opened up on his controversial call to pull out of the fifth Test against Australia in Sydney earlier this earlier this year. Rohit Sharma had scored just 31 runs from five innings in the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy series Down Under.
As a result of Rohit opting out of the fifth Test, pacer Jasprit Bumrah led India in the Sydney Test. During an episode the Beyond23 Cricket Podcast hosted by Michael Clarke, Rohit recalled the moment when head coach Gautam Gambhir and chief selector Ajit Agarkar had “agreed and not agreed” for his decision to skip the Sydney Test. India had already lost the Border-Gavaskar Trophy prior to the Sydney Test.
The 37-year-old had also missed the first Test in Perth due to the birth of his child and on returning to the playing XI, he initially played at number six before reverting back to opening the innings in Melbourne. “In the last Test match in Sydney, I had to be honest with myself. I was not hitting the ball well.
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“And I didn’t want to put myself there only because we had a lot of the other guys who were struggling as well. When you add yourself in there, it just becomes a little more… And we wanted Gill to play. He is such a good player. He missed out in the previous Test,” Rohit told the former Australia skipper in an episode of the podcast.
“I was like, ‘Okay, if I’m not hitting the ball well, it’s right now.’ Things can change ten days later, five days later.
“I spoke to the coach and the selector, who was there on the tour. They kind of agreed – not agreed. There was an argument around it. You try and put the team first and just look at what the team wants and make the decision accordingly. Sometimes it may work, sometimes it may not. So that’s how it goes. Every decision you try and make, you are not guaranteed success,” explained the Mumbai cricketer.
India were led by Jasprit Bumrah in Rohit Sharma’s absence in the first Test in Perth. India won that Test by 295 runs, before losing the second match in Adelaide. The third Test in Brisbane which was marred by rain ended in a draw whereas the hosts won the fourth and fifth Tests in Melbourne and Sydney respectively.
The series loss to Australia also ended India’s hopes of qualifying for the World Test Championship (WTC) final.
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