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It's official now. Rohit Sharma is not playing the fifth India vs Australia Test in Sydney. Jasprit Bumrah, who had led India to victory in the first Test of the five-match series in Perth, walked out for the toss along with Australia captain Pat Cummins in Sydney on Friday morning. Surprisingly, Bumrah was not asked in details about Rohit Sharma's absence by commentator and former India coach Ravi Shastri. Later, visuals showed Rohit having a light chat with India coach Gautam Gambhir.
Bumrah revealed that Rohit had opted out of the match.
"Our captain has shown leadership by opting to rest in this game. That shows there's a lot of unity in this team. There's no selfishness. Whatever is in the team's best interest we are looking to do that. Two changes, Rohit has opted to rest and Akash Deep is injured so Prasidh comes in," Jasprit Bumrah said at the toss.
"We've played some really good cricket in this series. The last match was pretty exciting. hopefully we can put up a good show. It seems to be some grass. It doesn't look to have too many demons or look too spicy. Obviously there will be a challenge with the new ball but if you get through it's always a god batting track."
Rohit made the call after scoring 31 runs in five innings across three Tests. The 37-year-old white ball great looked like a pale shadow of himself in those innings, struggling to execute even his bread and butter shots including the trademark front pull.
Looking at India's practice session on the eve of the game, it became clear that Rohit was going to sit out.
The speculation over his future in the longest format also gained momentum after India lost the fourth Test in Melbourne to trail the five-match series 1-2.
The year 2024 turned out to be the least productive year for Rohit in Test cricket as he collected 619 runs in 26 innings across 14 matches averaging 24.76.
Having played his 67th five-day game in Melbourne, Rohit is also being expected to call time on his roller-coaster Test career soon.
Shubman Gill came back to the playing XI while pacer Prasidh Krishna made his first appearance in the series for India.
The two have replaced Rohit, who has been woefully out of form, and Akash Deep, who is injured.
Australia have handed a debut to all-rounder Beau Webster, who replaced an off-colour Mitchell Marsh. Webster received his Baggy Green from former player Mark Waugh.
India need to win the Test to retain the Border Gavaskar Trophy while Australia need just a draw to take the series.
The hosts lead the series 2-1.
Teams: India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant(w), Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah(c), Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj.
Australia: Sam Konstas, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Travis Head, Beau Webster, Alex Carey(w), Pat Cummins(c), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland.
With PTI inputs