Rohit Sharma has broken his silence on his absence from the Indian XI in the ongoing fifth and final Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) test against Australia in Sydney. In place of Rohit, ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah is captaining the Indian side in the fixture.
Earlier, the reports claimed that Rohit is likely to announce his Test retirement after he opted out of the Sydney Test. This came on the back of his disastrous form, where he registered scores of 3, 6, 10, 3 & 9 in three appearances in the series.
However, Rohit Sharma expressed his natural reaction to the media reports in an interaction with Jatin Sapru and Irfan Pathan on Star Sports during the lunch break on day two of the Sydney Test. As per him, he stood out from the game for the team’s benefit, as the runs were not coming from his bat.
However, ‘Hitman’ expressed confidence in him coming back to form in the next test assignment, and refrained from bringing curtains down on his red-ball career.
“This decision is not a retirement decision. 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,” he added.
Rohit Sharma also took a dig at the commentators/journalists by saying that ‘people with a mic, pen or laptop’ can’t decide his future, and he has seen and achieved enough to make his personal decision.
The 37-year-old also revealed having a chat with chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar and head coach Gautam Gambhir of him sitting out of the game. Both backed his decision on account of Rohit knowing what’s best for the side.
Sydney Test: Day 2 of India-Australia game ends on interesting note
The Indian bowling unit delivered a spirit effort on Day 2 of the Sydney Test. After picking four wickets in the first session, India had an upper hand. However, captain Jasprit Bumrah delivered only a solitary over in the second session, which calmed things a bit for the hosts.
The pair of Alex Carey and Beau Webster stitched a 41-run stand, before the keeper-batter was bowled by Prasidh Krishna. The wicket opened the floodgates, as the Australian team were bundled out for 181, giving a lead of four runs for the visitors.
Thereafter, Yashasvi Jaiswal provided a sensational start to the Indian team, smashing four boundaries off Mitchell Starc’s first over. KL Rahul also looked at comfort against the Australian bowlers, with a couple of boundaries. However, Scott Boland breached through the defense of Rahul (13) and Jaiswal (22) in quick succession to put Australia back on the track.
Although, Shubman Gill (13) started out well, his attempt to play an expansive shot cost him dearly as he was dismissed by Beau Webster. India’s senior-most batter Virat Kohli again made a mistake and fell victim to his nemesis of a delivery, getting caught behind at the slips for 6.
However, Rishabh Pant had other plans, as the southpaw slammed a six off his very first ball against Scott Boland. He continued his attacking strokeplay to reach fifty off 29 balls, which is now the second-fastest half-century by an Indian in Tests. Through this knock, the southpaw stunned the cricket fraternity with his back-to-back sixes against Mitchell Starc. Interestingly, he holds the record for scoring the fastest as well off 28 deliveries.
However, Pant was dismissed by Pat Cummins for 61 off 33 balls. Soon, Boland got rid of Nitish Reddy (4) as well. India ended Day 2 on 141/6, with Ravindra Jadeja (8*) and Washington Sundar (6*) at the crease.
It will be interesting to see whether India will be able to hold off the Australian bowling unit and accumulate hefty runs in the first session on Day 3. A target of around 200 will set up a terrific day of Test cricket in Sydney.
