India captain Rohit Sharma has played his final Test match, feels legendary Sunil Gavaskar. Speaking during the Lunch break of the 5th Test match, Gavaskar tried to make sense of Rohit Sharma’s decision to ‘rest’ himself from the final Test match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25.
Gavaskar felt that India were unlikely to reach the final of the World Test Championship and that the team will move on from Rohit Sharma since there are no home Tests scheduled for the next few months. The former player said that the selection committee will look for a batter who can remain active till 2027 – till the end of the third World Test Championship cycle.
“Well, I think what it probably means is that India don’t qualify for the World Test Championship final. To me, it looks that the Melbourne Test would be Rohit Sharma’s last game. The new cycle of the World Test Championship will start from the England series, so they will look to have somebody who will be available for 2027 final. Whether India gets to the final or not is another matter, but I think that’s what the selection committee will do. Therefore maybe we’ve probably seen Rohit Sharma for the last time in Test cricket,” Sunil Gavaskar said on Star Sports.
Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25: Full Coverage
Gavaskar argued that chairman of the selection committee Ajit Agarkar certainly had a role to play in the decision behind resting Rohit Sharma for the final Test match of the series. India were 1-2 down ahead of the Sydney Test. They need to win the final Test match of the series to remain in contention of the World Test Championship Final.
“At the end of the day he’s also part of the selection committee. What happens in Indian cricket is there is a selection committee which chooses the squad to go to travel overseas. Then when you come overseas, the captain, the coach, and I think if there’s one selector, they generally form the selection committee. I believe the chairman of the selection committee, Ajit Agarar here in town, so he would have been part of the call that was taken. Maybe some of the senior players in the team would have been asked,” Gavaskar added.
Former India head coach Ravi Shastri also echoed the sentiments of Gavaskar and said that Rohit would have carried on if there was a home Test season after Australia.
“If there was a home season coming up, he might have thought of carrying on, but I think he might just pull the plug at the end of this Test. He’s not getting younger, he’s 38 years of age. It’s not that India don’t have youngsters, there are some very, very good players in the wings, and it’s time to build. It’s a tough decision, but there’s a time for everything,” Ravi Shastri said on Star Sports.
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