Former India coach Ravi Shastri on Friday expressed his belief that captain Rohit Sharma’s Test career could soon be “plugged” after he was ruled out of the fifth Test against Australia in Sydney.
The 37-year-old opener has endured a poor series, and his absence from the pre-match press conference hinted at a possible decision.
Instead, coach Gautam Gambhir addressed the media but refrained from offering unequivocal support for Rohit, fueling speculation about the veteran cricketer’s future at Red Ball Cricket.
Stand-in captain Jasprit Bumrah insisted at the coin toss on Friday that Rohit had “chose to rest” for the good of the team rather than being forced out.
But Shastri suspects this is the end of Rohit’s 67-Test career, predicting a retirement announcement after the game.
Commenting on Fox Sports, Shastri said, “It’s still a brave call for a captain to hold his own and say, ‘I’m ready to take the bench in this game.’
“If there was a domestic season coming up he might have thought about continuing, but I think he might pull the plug at the end of this Test.
“It’s not that India doesn’t have youngsters. There are very good players and it’s time to develop.
“Tough decisions, but there’s a time for everything.”
Rohit called it quits from T20 international cricket after winning the World Cup last year, but has yet to find time for his ODI career.
He missed the first Test in Perth for the birth of his second child and has not looked fully engaged since, failing to score 10 runs in any of his five innings.
His recent form has come on the back of a similar poor comeback during India’s 3-0 home series defeat against New Zealand in October-November.
“Our captain showed his leadership, he chose to rest this game,” Bumrah said on the toss.
“So it shows that there’s a lot of unity in our team, there’s no selfishness, whatever’s in the best interest of the team, we’re trying to do it.”
If Rohit skips it, it will be his second retirement of the tour as off-spinning great Ravichandran heads home after the third Test at the Ashwin Gabba.
Ashwin was not selected for Brisbane, which proved to be the final straw for the 38-year-old.