All eyes will be on India's playing eleven when they enter the Sydney Cricket Ground for the fifth Test match against Australia on Friday morning. The speculation around Rohit Sharma's potential absence has grown significantly in the pre-match build-up as the Indian captain faces the biggest Test of his career.
The 37-year-old veteran has struggled for runs throughout the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 with just 31 runs in 5 innings. But the main question that has surfaced is whether Rohit is fit to lead the Indian cricket team in Test cricket.
India's win in the first Test of the ongoing tour came under Jasprit Bumrah's captaincy as Rohit missed the BGT opener due to the birth of his second child in November last year. Rohit joined the team and took back the captaincy reins from Bumrah, but things didn't go as he desired in the next three matches.
Australia managed to overturn their defeat in the first match and now lead the series 2-1 going into the Sydney Test. India have lost five and drawn one in their last six Test matches under Rohit's captaincy and are on the verge of missing out on the WTC 2025 final spot as well.
Rohit also came under scrutiny for his decisions as a captain in the last game in Melbourne. He forced in-form KL Rahul down in the batting order to open but that didn't work out as both batters failed to make an impact at MCG. Rohit's decision to drop Shubman Gill also didn't go well with the fans and cricket pundits and that triggered the speculation around Rohit's role as captain of India's Test team.
Rohit is reportedly expected to miss the Sydney Test and it will be the only fifth occasion where India will be without the star opener since his appointment as Test captain in March 2022.
India have lost just one Test match when Rohit Sharma missed or was dropped from the team after becoming captain. India won two Test matches against Bangladesh in December 2022 under KL Rahul's captaincy. Bumrah also led India in two Tests in Rohit's absence, losing against England at Edgbaston in July 2022 and winning the Perth Test against Australia in the ongoing tour.
India's Test record without captain Rohit Sharma
| Matches | Won | Lost | Draw |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
India's record with Rohit Sharma as Test captain
| Matches | Won | Lost | Draw |
|---|---|---|---|
| 24 | 12 | 9 | 3 |
