AUS vs IND : Rohit Sharma Becomes First Indian Captain To Opt Out Mid-Series; Jasprit Bumrah Leads The Team

Rohit Sharma has dropped himself from the fifth and final Test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy on Friday.

Sydney: Rohit Sharma became the first Indian skipper to drop himself in the midst of the series by opting out from the fifth and final Test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy. Jasprit Bumrah will lead the team in his absence for the Sydney Test.

Rohit has been enduring a poor run of form in the Border Gavaskar Trophy and failed to score more than 10 runs in any of the five innings he played. During the team's practice session, Rohit was not present in the slip cordon where the players were practicing catches. Also, while Virat Kohli, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Nitish Kumar Reddy, and KL Rahul were seen taking part in the practice sessions, Rohit was seen sitting aloof in the dressing room.

There were speculations regarding Rohit's retirement as he was struggling to score runs in the series. After batting at No. 6 earlier in the series, Rohit opened the innings in the last fixture while KL Rahul was forced to bat at one-down with Shubman Gill being benched. Also, the rumours regarding Rohit's exclusion were on rife when head coach Gautam Gambhir gave a cryptic answer regarding Rohit's presence saying it would depend on the playing conditions.

Rohit Sharma becomes first Indian captain to drop himself

The 37-year-old racked up only 31 runs in five innings with an average of 6.20 which is the worst-ever by a touring skipper in Australia. The right-handed batter has been going through a rough patch since September scoring only 164 runs across three series. This also marks the first instance since 2014 when a captain dropped himself in the middle of the series. 10 years back, Misbah-ul-Haq of Pakistan incurred the same fate as he opted out from the third ODI against Australia owing to a poor form.

Jasprit Bumrah to lead Indian team

This will be the second time in the series when Bumrah will lead the Men in Blue. He capatined India in the Perth Test in which in the visitors registered an emphatic win by 295 runs. Rohit had missed the fixture for the birth of his second child. Bumrah's first experince as a Test skipper came in 2022 when India played the rescheduled Test against England where the team lost against the English outfit.