Rohit Sharma rested for Sydney Test: Timeline of how things went bad for India captain

Rohit Sharma has been rested for the fifth and final Test between Australia and India at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG), with Jasprit Bumrah leading the side in Rohit’s absence. India won the toss on Friday and have opted to bat first in Sydney. India are trailing Australia 1-2 in the five-match Test series, and win in the fifth Test will see them retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

“We’ve played some really good cricket in this series. The last match was pretty exciting. hopefully we can put up a good show. It seems to be some grass. It doesn’t look to have too many demons or look too spicy. Obviously there will be a challenge with the new ball but if you get through it’s always a god batting track,” Bumrah said during the toss on Friday.

“Our captain has shown leadership by opting to rest in this game. That shows there’s a lot of unity in this team. There’s no selfishness. Whatever is in the teams best interest we are looking to do that. Two changes, Rohit has opted to rest and Akash Deep is injured so Prasidh comes in,” added Bumrah.

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Timeline of how things went bad for Rohit Sharma 

Rohit Sharma’s spot in the Team India playing XI had been in danger following a string of poor outings in the ongoing Test series. Rohit had missed the first Test in Perth due to the birth of his second child, with Bumrah leading the side. India, who were all out for 150 in the first innings, scripted a remarkable comeback to win the Test by 295 runs, with Bumrah taking eight wickets.

Rohit Sharma returned to lead India from the second Test onwards, but has endured poor outings with the bat ever since. Rohit had sacrificed his openers’ spot for the second and third Tests, allowing KL Rahul to open with Yashasvi Jaiswal after the two led the charge in Perth. However, that backfired big time  as he was dismissed for scores of three and six runs in the pink-ball Test in Adelaide.

In Brisbane, which was the third Test of the series, Rohit managed just 10 runs, which ends up being his highest score this series. Rohit returned to the top-order In the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne, opening the innings on both occasions. However, the Nagpur-born cricketer was dismissed for single figures again, scoring just three and nine runs in the two innings respectively.

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Ahead of the Sydney Test, the Indian Express had reported that India head coach Gautam Gambhir was unhappy with his players in the dressing room. “Bahut ho gaya (I’ve had enough),” Gambhir told players, as per the report.

Although Gambhir did not point out any player particularly, the former opener was not happy with the fact that his players weren’t playing the game according to the match situation. Gambhir, however, had said at the pre-match press conference on Thursday that dressing room conversations should remain in the dressing room. When asked about Rohit's absence from the press conference , Gambhir said: “Everything is fine with Rohit. The head coach is here and that should be enough. We will decide on the playing XI after looking at the pitch."

Playing XIs

Australia: Sam Konstas, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Travis Head, Steve Smith, Beau Webster, Pat Cummins(Captain), Alex Carey(Wicketkeeper), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland.

India: Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja, Rishabh Pant(Wicketkeeper), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Jasprit Bumrah(Captain), Washington Sundar, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj