India ODI and Test captain Rohit Sharma made headlines when he dropped himself from the fifth Test match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 after he failed to perform in his three Test outings in Australia. Rohit who missed the first Test match citing personal reasons, dropped himself from the fifth Test after he managed to score just 31 runs in five innings.
Rohit agreed that he was unable to score runs in the Test series against Australia and he wanted Gill to feature in the fifth Test match because the young batter missed the fourth Test.
"I had to be honest to myself that I was not hitting the ball well and I didn't want to put myself there only because we had lot of other guys who were struggling as well. So, and then you add yourself in there. It just becomes a little more. It's a list of players who are not in their best form," said Rohit on Beyond23 Cricket Podcast.
Rohit revealed that India coach Gautam Gambhir and the support staff did not fully agree with his move to drop himself from the fifth Test match, and there was an argument.
"We wanted, and we somehow wanted Gill to play. He missed out in the previous test match. We wanted him to play. So, I mean, I'm like, okay, if I'm not hitting the ball well, it is right now and I spoke to the coach and the selector who were there on the tour as well. And they kind of agreed, not agreed. There was an argument around it. You try and put the team first and just look at what the team wants make the decision accordingly and sometimes it will work and sometimes it may not. So that's how it goes. Every decision you try and make, you're not guaranteed success or you're not guaranteed that this is the right decision that you've done.
Gill, who featured in the Sydney Test in place of Rohit Sharma, scored 33 runs in two innings. Gill scored 93 runs in five innings of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25.
Rohit Sharma is currently featuring in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 for the Mumbai Indians (MI). After IPL 2025, Rohit-led India will travel to England for the five Test match series which is scheduled to start from June 20.