According to legendary Sunil Gavaskar, India captain Rohit Sharma has played his final Test match. Gavaskar attempted to explain Rohit Sharma's choice to "rest" from the final Test match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024–25 at the lunch break of the fifth Test match. Rohit opted to rest himself from the Sydney Test and Jasprit Bumrah who was India's skipper in the Perth Test is leading the side in this series decider as well.
Gavaskar on Rohit
Since there are not any home Test matches in the upcoming months, Gavaskar believed that India would not make it to the World Test Championship final and that the squad will move on from Rohit Sharma. The selection committee, according to the former player, will search for a batter who can continue to play until 2027, which is the end of the fourth World Test Championship cycle.
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"Well, I think what it probably means is that India don't qualify for the World Test Championship final. To me, it looks that the Melbourne Test would be Rohit Sharma's last game. The new cycle of the World Test Championship will start from the England series, so they will look to have somebody who will be available for 2027 final. Whether India gets to the final or not is another matter, but I think that's what the selection committee will do. Therefore maybe we've probably seen Rohit Sharma for the last time in Test cricket," Sunil Gavaskar said on Star Sports.
Gavaskar believed that the decision to rest Rohit Sharma for the series' final Test match undoubtedly had some influence from Ajit Agarkar, the chairman of the selection committee. India was behind 1-2 before the Sydney Test. To stay in the running for the World Test Championship Final, they must win the last Test match of the series.
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"At the end of the day he's also part of the selection committee. What happens in Indian cricket is there is a selection committee which chooses the squad to go to travel overseas. Then when you come overseas, the captain, the coach, and I think if there's one selector, they generally form the selection committee. I believe the chairman of the selection committee, Ajit Agarar here in town, so he would have been part of the call that was taken. Maybe some of the senior players in the team would have been asked," Gavaskar added.
Ravi Shastri on Rohit
Echoing Gavaskar's views, former India head coach Ravi Shastri claimed that Rohit would have continued if there had been a home Test season following Australia.
"If there was a home season coming up, he might have thought of carrying on, but I think he might just pull the plug at the end of this Test. He's not getting younger, he's 38 years of age. It's not that India don't have youngsters, there are some very, very good players in the wings, and it's time to build. It's a tough decision, but there's a time for everything," Ravi Shastri said on Star Sports.