The return of the captain of the Indian Test Team to take on Australia has not gone the way everyone wanted it to. Heck, it’s not a stretch to say that the best India has looked in Australia during the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024/25 has been when Rohit Sharma was not in the Playing XI. And with him at the mantle of this side, India has played dispirited cricket throughout the 2nd & 3rd tests and is doing the same in the 4th test except for Nitish Kumar Reddy’s century yesterday.
And now, people, important people at that, have started pointing fingers at Rohit Sharma, the Indian Captain and the situation seems grave for the 37-year-old. According to the reports by news agency PTI Selection Committee Chairman Ajit Agarkar is currently in Melbourne and a discussion regarding Rohit Sharma’s future is a possibility.
The report further states that according to popular belief, Rohit Sharma’s future as the captain of the Indian Cricket Team Tests might be intrinsically tied to India failing to win the Border Gavaskar Trophy or India failing to qualify for the WTC Final in June 2025. So with 2 days of the 4th test behind us, how does the situation look for Rohit Sharma and India?
Rohit Sharma & India Staring Down The Gun Barrel
Sunil Gavaskar expressed his opinion of how he thinks age is catching up with Rohit Sharma following the Indian Skipper’s dismissal in the first innings of the 4th test against Australia where the senior Indian opener faced 12 deliveries making 3 runs before gifting his scalp to the opposition. Gavaskar stated, “That’s a shot that he normally plays. The half-pull off the front foot. I think he probably got in two minds whether to go for the proper pull shot or not and then ended up just trying to tap it like catching practice. But that’s what happens when you have a gap, when you’re 36, 37 years old and you have a long gap between playing cricket”
India too find themselves in the backseat as they still trail Australia by more than 100 runs and it could have been much more if not for Nitish Kumar Reddy’s excellent century. It seems likely that this Test Match goes to either the Australians or a draw. Leaving India almost out of the conversation of reaching the WTC final. And then, there is also the last and final test remaining at Sydney which starts on January 3rd.
Even if India does manage to win the final test to draw/win the Border Gavaskar Trophy, it wouldn’t matter since they wouldn’t qualify for the WTC Final if they fail to win the Melbourne Test. And so it seems highly unlikely that we will ever see Rohit Sharma don the whites for India again after the Australia series if the PTI reports are to be believed.
