“No me retiraré, pero Rohit Sharma debería retirarse del Test de Sydney por el bien del equipo” – Aakash Chopra

India cricket team’s captain is struggling. Rohit Sharma is at the tail end of his career. So, if an when he struggled, questioned about his retirement will be raised. But the voices have never been louder. Since he’s taken over as captain in the ongoing India vs Australia Test series, his team hasn’t won a match. To top that, he’s averaging 6.20 and the likes of Scott Boland and Nathan Lyon has faced more deliveries than him.

Will Rohit Sharma drop himself for Sydney Test?

Retirement seems the only step forward for Rohit Sharma for many. Former Indian cricketer, Aakash Chopra doesn’t think the Indian captain should retire until he wants to but he wants him to bench himself. “No captain has ever done that, dropped himself. Retirement is his personal call, but selection is up to the selectors. They don’t want to take that decision (dropping) mid-tour, so now the call is with Rohit Sharma. In the team’s interest, will he sit out? Not saying retirement, but sit yourself out of the Sydney Test. Tell the team, I’m not batting well or able to contribute,” Aakash said on his YouTube channel.

‘Selfish’ Rohit Sharma dropped Gill & changed KL Rahul’s batting position for himself?

But it’s more than just Rohit Sharma the batter. The cricketer turned commentator feels that Rohit Sharma the captain has been selfish. He expressed how at the start, he told everyone that KL Rahul would open but by the India vs Australia 4th Test, he demoted Rahul to himself open and dropped Shubman Gill. Why? To accomodate himself. Rohit put himself over his team.

“He wasn’t available for the 1st match (Perth Test). He said, ‘I can’t come; KL Rahul can open.’ You can decide what you can do but not what the other can do. When Rahul did well, Rohit thought, ‘I’ll be wrong to pull him down again; let him open with the pink ball Test and at The Gabba.’ He played at number 6 but didn’t score. So he went back to the MCG as an opener,” Aakash added.

‘For the first time as a captain, he took a call in his interest. It can’t be in the team’s interest when Rahul was doing well as an opener, Shubman Gill was doing fine at number 3 and was India’s second highest run-scorer in 2024. He’s played some tough knocks this year (Wankhede) and looked good in Adelaide. Just three bad innings and he was dropped. That’s because Rohit was thinking about himself as a captain for the first time in his career.“

Rohit Sharma record as captain & batter in BGT 2024-25