 "India regular captain Rohit Sharma rested himself from the fifth Test against Australia in Sydney. AP")
Rohit Sharma rested himself from India’s fifth Test against Australia in Sydney that got underway on Friday (3 January). Jasprit Bumrah is leading the side in Rohit’s absence. Rohit’s participation in the Sydney Test had been in doubt after a string of low scores in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series, having aggregated just 31 runs from three matches.
Rohit Sharma joins rare list
Rohit Sharma had also opted out of the first Test against Australia in Perth due to the birth of his second child. A captain dropping himself or opting out in the middle of a series is a rare instance in cricket. The last time such a thing happened was 50 years ago, during the 1974-75 Ashes series in Australia. The then England captain Mike Denness had dropped himself from the fourth Test in Sydney after aggregating just 65 runs from six innings.
John Edrich led the visitors in the fourth Test which England lost by 171 runs. Denness, however, returned to lead England in the fifth and sixth Tests. Denness was the match referee who imposed serious sanctions on Indian players for “excessive appealing” and even suspended Sachin Tendulkar for ball-tampering during the 2001 South Africa-India Test in Port Elizabeth.
Australia lead the five-match series against India 2-1 following their 184-run win in the fourth Test in Melbourne. India had won the first Test in Perth by 295 runs, before suffering a 10-wicket defeat in the second Test in Adelaide.
The third Test, which was interrupted by rain, ended in a draw. Should India win the Sydney Test, they will retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, but victory will still not assure India of a spot in the World Test Championship (WTC) final.
Even if India beat Australia in Sydney, they will need other results to go in their favour, most particularly that Sri Lanka beat Australia 2-0 at home. India have made the WTC final in the last two editions. While India lost to New Zealand by eight wickets in 2021, they suffered a 209-run loss to Australia in the 2023 final.