Published: May 14, 2025, 03:18 PM (IST)
Edited: May 14, 2025, 03:18 PM (IST)
Former Indian cricketer Mohammad Kaif has questioned the decision on Rohit Sharma to not captain the team in the final Test match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25 in Sydney. Kaif said that the timing was not right and that Rohit might have had already locked the decision to retire from the red-ball format.
Rohit Sharma had struggled in the BGT in Australia, where India lost the series 3-1. Rohit’s average in five innings was of 6.20, and his struggles with the bat led him to drop himself for the final Test match in Sydney.
“We had gotten the odd feeling when Rohit removed himself from the starting XI at Sydney, citing his batting form and the team needing to win. I had felt that we needed a captain in that crucial game,” Kaif told IANS.
“Jasprit Bumrah was appointed the stand-in skipper but even he could not complete the game, so that raised questions that okay, the form is not there but you are a captain too. I felt it was not the right call at the time, but I think he may have decided to retire then itself,” he added.
Rohit Sharma’s 11-year long career has come to an end. In these 11 years of game, Rohit played 67 red-ball matches, leading the team in 23 of them. He was given the role of captain in 2022, and during his career, the Southpaw scored 4302 runs accompanied by 12 centuries.
Rohit Sharma played his first Test match against West Indies in 2013, where he impressed everyone by scoring a century as well. After that, he scored another century in the Test match that he played in Mumbai. After his impressive debut, Rohit Sharma could not manage to keep his form, as his next Test century came against Sri Lanka in 2017. During the red-ball series against South Africa in 2019, he scored 2 tons in a three-match series.
Rohit Sharma’s captaincy record, however, had gone down when during the World Test Championship (WTC) cycle, India lost the series 0-3 against New Zealand at home. That lost marked India’s first home series loss in 12 long years. The Indian team then lost the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia as well. Rohit had even not played in the last match of the series, which was in Sydney. India’s captaincy record in Test cricket under Rohit Sharma has seen 12 victories and 8 losses.
