SYDNEY: While it seemed clear that Rohit Sharma will not play, there was a sense of anticipation to see who would walk out of the Indian dressing room donning the India blazer in front of a sell out crowd at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Friday. At about 9.58 AM, whatever doubts were there were castled.
Jasprit Bumrah walked out of the pavilion with the team sheet in hand joining Australia captain Pat Cummins and Ravi Shastri in the middle. Two minutes later, he won the toss and opted to bat first. Shubman Gill had come in for Rohit Sharma while Prasidh Krishna replaced injured Akash Deep.
“Our captain has opted out of this game, it shows his leadership and that there is no selfishness in the team. Two changes, Rohit misses and Akash Deep is out due to injury, replaced by Prasidh (Krishna),” said Bumrah when asked about Sharma.
The Indian captain had been in poor form averaging 6.2 with the bat while losing two of the three Tests he captained since arriving in Australia. With tensions mounting within the team — especially captain and head coach Gautam Gambhir — speculations and murmurs started doing rounds after the loss in Melbourne. Instead of putting them to rest, Gambhir added fuel to fire when he did not confirm Sharma’s spot in the playing XI. Later, it was confirmed that Sharma will not be taking part in the must-win contest.
As things stand, India trail 1-2 and need to win the fifth and final Test to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and have a chance at qualifying for the World Test Championship final.