First captain in Indian cricket history, who was dropped from the playing 11 itself
Rohit Sharma Sacked: Rohit Sharma has been dropped from the playing 11 for the last match of the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 to be played in Sydney.
The last match of the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 between India and Australia will be played in Sydney. Captain Rohit Sharma has been dropped from this match. When Team India's head coach Gautam Gambhir held a press conference, he was asked a question about Rohit Sharma's playing. In the press conference, Gautam Gambhir had avoided the question of including Rohit Sharma in the playing 11, but the Indian Express has claimed that Rohit Sharma will not play the Sydney Test. Apart from this, Prasidh Krishna will also be seen playing tomorrow's match.
Rohit told head coach Gautam Gambhir and chief selector Ajit Agarkar about his decision to stay out of the final match of the series, he gave priority to the principle of 'best team first' in the match. Both Gambhir and Agarkar reportedly agreed to the move. There is speculation that this could be the end of Rohit's Test career, as he may not be included in India's future plans in the upcoming World Test Championship (WTC) cycle. After being ruled out of the Sydney Test, Rohit Sharma has become the first captain in Indian cricket history to be shown the way out of the playing 11.
Rohit's overall Test performances have been underwhelming in recent times, with a meager 6.2 average over the last three games in Australia and just a 10.93 average over the last nine Tests in general. These, along with the struggles of India in this ongoing WTC cycle, have brought his place under the scanner. And if this happens to be Rohit's final Test, the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne could well be his final game as India's Test captain.
The India line-up, however, will be different in the SCG encounter. In Rohit's absence, the dropped Shubman Gill will return to the playing XI. Gill is likely to occupy the No. 3 spot, with KL Rahul opening the innings alongside Yashasvi Jaiswal, just like how he did in the series opener in Perth. The middle order has had Rishabh Pant, who will be continuing in the team.
