Sydney Test: Have we seen the last of Rohit Sharma in red-ball cricket?

When India bounced back for a winning start in Perth just over a month back, little did one imagine that it would turn out to be Indian cricket’s winter of discontent so soon. Though the much hyped Border-Gavaskar Trophy, series, poised at 2-1 in favour of the hosts, is still not a hopeless scenario for India ahead of the Sydney Test starting Friday.

However, the mood in the Indian dressing room is far from ideal, with too many unanswered questions and the usual lack of transparency over key issues hardly helping the campaign. The biggest conundrum is whether we have seen the last of skipper Rohit Sharma in red-ball cricket, or will he announce his retirement from the longer format soon after the final Test? In light of head coach Gautam Gambhir’s reported strong words after the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground) defeat, will Rishabh Pant have to make way for Dhruv Jurel in a like-for-like replacement?

There are also unconfirmed reports that in view of Rohit’s imminent departure from Tests, a very senior member of the team has expressed a keenness to take up the job in the interim. With Ravi Ashwin now in retirement, K.L. Rahul no longer enjoying the confidence he did even a few years back, and vice-captain Jasprit Bumrah being groomed for a long term role, is there a return of Virat Kohli round the corner?

Kohli, who was replaced by Rohit as captain in all formats as the Rohit-Dravid regime kicked in, has been looking extremely proactive in this series in terms of energising the younger players. Incidentally, TV pundit Ravi Shastri — a former head coach known to be aligned to Kohli — pitched for the latter playing red-ball cricket for 'another three to four years' after the MCG defeat.

There is a strong buzz that Rohit, who has been enduring a pathetic series in the three Tests that he has played, may step aside as a player for the final Test, with Rahul coming back to open with Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill returning to the playing XI at number three. There have been enough examples in international cricket like Michael Clarke, Misbah-ul Haq, Brendon McCullum or Alastair Cook, who started contemplating retirement owing to poor form, though they didn’t drop themselves of their own accord.  

"Everything is fine with Rohit and we will finalise the XI tomorrow after taking a look at the wicket,’’ Gambhir said at the pre-match media conference, a remark which hid more than it revealed. Contrast this with the manner in which Australia announced their playing XI more than 24 hours before the match. In his interaction with the media earlier, Rohit did not look to be in a mood to give up, and this only increases the speculation over the team management’s final call.

There were, meanwhile, oblique references about the dressing room chatter after the batting collapse at MCG and Gambhir said: ‘’You need to play what the team needs. You can still play your natural game in a team sport, but if the team needs you, you need to play in a certain way.’’ While it could be a not-so-veiled dig at Pant, Rohit had looked every inch a batter who is out of form while Kohli’s manner of dismissal were actually action replays of him fishing at fifth or sixth stump.

‘’There are some honest words and honesty is very important if we want to go on and achieve great things,’’ Gambhir said in reference to the Indian Express story which has been creating a storm.

The build-up to the final Test, hence, has been far from ideal. While India’s chances of making it to the World Test Championship (WTC) final thrice in a row now exists only in theory and is dependent on Sri Lanka pulling off an upset against Australia, an unlikely win in Sydney will mean they can continue to hold their own for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy till the next cycle.

It’s no mean feat to stay unbeaten in such a high-value series for over a decade, and this should serve as impetus enough for India to give it their all over the next five days.

Catch the match

India vs Australia

Fifth Test, Sydney Cricket Ground

Match starts at 5.00 am IST