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Ahead of the fifth and final game against Australia during the 2024-25 edition of he border-Gavaskar Trophy, Rohit decided to drop himself on the back of some lacklustre performances in the season, and he revealed his reasons for doing so in an interview with former…Read More
Rohit Sharma. (X)
Team India skipper Rohit Sharma opened up on opting to drop himself from the team to face Australia in the final Test of India’s tour down under earlier in the year.
India had seized a surprise lead as Jasprit Bumrah, standing in for the absent skipper Rohit, helped claim a win over the hosts at Perth. Rohit returned to the side for the second Test, but India were outplayed by at Adelaide by the Aussies, who pegged the visitors back in the five-match series. The third game at the Gabba ended in a stalemate, but the Australians pulled ahead with their win at MCC in the fourth Test.
Ahead of the fifth and final game against Australia, Rohit decided to bench himself on the back of some lacklustre performances in the season, and he revealed his reasons for doing so in an interview with former Australian World Cup winner Michael Clark.
“The last Test match in Sydney, I had to be honest to myself that I was not hitting the ball well and I didn’t wanted to put myself there only because we had a lot of the other guys who were struggling as well,” Rohit said.
“And then you add yourself in there, it just becomes a list of players that are not in their best form. And we wanted, and we somehow wanted (Shubman) Gill to play. He had missed out in the previous Test match. We wanted him to play,”
“So I mean, I’m like, OK, if I’m not hitting the ball, well, it is right now. Yeah, things can change. 100%. Ten days later, right especially. When you got so much cricket before your next Test series as well”.
“And I, I spoke to the coach and the selector who were there, and there was an argument around the same which happens all the time as you try to put the team first and just look at what the team wants and make the decision accordingly,” the veteran batter said.
“And sometimes it will work and sometimes it may not. Yeah. 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,” he added.
