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India captain Rohit Sharma's future as a Test cricketer hangs in the balance following his omission from the team for the recently-concluded Sydney Test against Australia. Reports had claimed that Rohit was dropped from the team, suggesting that the player is no longer in the selector's plans for the future. However, on Day 2 of the match, Rohit gave an explosive interview to Star Sports, the official broadcaster of the Border Gavaskar Trophy. During the interview, Rohit suggested that he "isn't retiring" and said that he decided to "opt-out" of the match owing to poor form. Rohit ended the series with 31 runs in three matches.
However, former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar feels Rohit decided to clear his stance because Gautam Gambhir was getting credit for leaving the Indian captain out of the lineup.
"But there was also another reason why he was doing that interview. To clear the air. Somewhere I think Gambhir was getting all the credit for a brave call by leaving Rohit Sharma out. He wanted to set the record straight. Let's be honest. I loved that interview. That first bit where he said, I couldn't have another out-of-form batter in the XI, and that's why he opted out. But there were some other emotions, too," said Manjrekar, who had earlier praised Rohit for the interview.
Manjrekar, however, warned Rohit that he might not have a say in deciding his future with the Indian team if the chairman of selectors has already made up his mind to drop him.
"One thing that a lot of players say is that 'I will decide my future'. I have a problem with that. You can decide your future with regards to retirement, but somebody else has got the job to decide your future as a player and captain," he added.
"That's the chairman of selectors. You have got to respect the hierarchy, however big you are. If the chairman of selectors is strong and he believes in the long-term health of Indian cricket, he has the power to decide whether your career should end now, or you get a few more matches, or one more series. Retirement is in your hands, but playing for India is not," Manjrekar explained.