Bizarre, sends wrong signal: Sidhu on Rohit Sharma missing final Test

Rohit Sharma's decision to "opt" out of the ongoing fifth Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series against Australia is "bizarre" as it sends wrong signals and the regular skipper deserved "more respect" from the team management, reckons former India opener Navjot Singh Sidhu.

Grappling with poor form, Rohit "opted to rest" from the Sydney Test, handing over the leadership duties to the team's pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah. The move also paved the way for Shubman Gill's inclusion in this crucial match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, since it will decide whether Australia walk away with the series or India manages to restore parity.

"A Captain should never be dropped midstream nor given the option to opt out … sends wrong signals," Sidhu wrote in a post shared on 'X'. "A management cannot give a captain the option to sit out," he added in the video accompanying the post.

Rohit, who missed the opening Test at Perth to be present for the birth of his second baby, has scored only 31 runs across five innings in three Tests.

His decision to "opt out" is widely being perceived as the team management's decision to drop him, a decision, moreover, primarily driven by head coach Gautam Gambhir, whose own position in the team hierarchy is not the most stable, given India's erratic performance in Australia.

"Have seen Captains like Mark Taylor, Azharuddin etc persisted as captain for a year despite bad form … @ImRo45 deserved more respect and faith from the management … Bizarre coz it happened for the first time in Indian cricket history …. Blunder - for a fallen lighthouse is more dangerous than a reef!," he added.

After missing the Perth Test, Rohit returned for the pink-ball Test at Adelaide but didn't look anything like his old self, struggling to execute even his bread and butter shots, including the trademark front foot pull.

The 37-year-old Rohit endured a tough time in Test cricket in 2024 as a whole too, accumulating just 619 runs in 26 innings across 14 matches at an average of 24.76.

With PTI inputs