Rohit Sharma: India captain dropping himself for fifth Test in Australia ‘not a retirement decision'

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India captain Rohit Sharma’s decision to sit out the final Test against Australia in Sydney baffled many experts of the game, but now he has cleared up just what prompted his spell on the sidelines. Sharma was keen to dampen any retirement rumours, as he watches the fifth and final Test from the sidelines, with India needing a win to get hold of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

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Rohit Sharma has confirmed that his decision to drop himself for the fifth and final Test against Australia was not an admission that retirement beckons, but rather a sensible conclusion given his current lack of form with the bat.

Sharma has been captain of the Test team since February 2022, replacing Virat Kohli. But the 37-year-old has found runs hard to come by of late, with a top score of just 10 from five innings so far Down Under.

He missed the opening Test against Australia on paternity leave, before taking the reins for the second, third and fourth Tests in Adelaide, Brisbane and Melbourne.

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But so far, his scores have read 3, 6, 10, 3 and 9 – and with the fifth Test a must win given India trail in the series, he seems to have fallen on his sword, but only for now.

"This decision is not a retirement decision," he said, as reported by ESPN Cricinfo.

"Nor am I going to take myself out of the game. I sat out of this match because runs are not coming off my bat. There is no guarantee runs won't come five or two months down the line. I have seen a lot in cricket that life changes every second, every minute, every day.

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"I have confidence in me that things can change, but at the same time, I have to be realistic as well. So life won't change by what people with a mic, pen or laptop write or say.

"They can't decide when we should retire, when we should sit out, when we should captain. I am a sensible man, mature man, father of two kids. So I know what I need in life."

Sharma’s last century came on home soil against England last March, and his career average remains a very decent 40.57. But he didn’t have much success against New Zealand either in the autumn, returning just one half-century from six innings, while two Tests against Bangladesh before that yielded a high score of 23.

"I made this decision after coming here [to Sydney]," Sharma continued. "We had only two days between the matches. On New Year's, I didn't want to have this chat with the selector and the coach. But it was in my mind that I am trying my best, but I am not getting the runs. I have to accept it and have to get myself out of the way.

"The chat that I had with the coach and the selector was very simple: my bat is not scoring runs, I am not in form, this is an important match and we need players who are in form. As it is, the boys are not in great form. So I had this simple thought in my mind: we can't carry out-of-form players.

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"That's why I thought I should tell the coach and the selector what's going on in my mind. They backed my decision. They said you have been playing for so many years, you are the best judge of what you are doing."

The fifth and final Test is finely poised, with India leading by 145 runs with four wickets remaining.

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The final Test in Sydney starts on January 2 at 11.30pm UK time.

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