India suffered a heavy 184-run loss in the fourth Test match against Australia in Melbourne on Monday. Rohit Sharma-led Indian side witnessed an embarrassing collapse in the last session of Day 5 to miss out on a chance to win the series.
It was a poor show from Indian batters, apart from Yashasvi Jaiswal who scored a brilliant 84 runs in the second innings. Senior batters Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul struggled to reach the double-digit scores with the captain himself scoring just 12 runs across two innings in the Boxing Day Test.
Rohit came under pressure for his role as a batter and team captain as the veteran opener continues to struggle for form in red-ball cricket this year. Rohit has scored just 31 runs in 7 innings in the ongoing series and has registered just one fifty in his last 15 Test innings.
India have also failed to win a Test game in the last six matches under Rohit Sharma's captaincy. India's win in the series opener in Perth under Jasprit Bumrah's leadership triggered the fans to question Rohit's captaincy and the latest loss added more pressure to his role going into the Sydney Test.
When asked about his thoughts on his captaincy struggles and poor form with the bat, Rohit revealed his disappointment.
"I stand where I am standing today - Few results didn't go our way as a captain and batter it is disappointing," Rohit said in the post-match press conference. "Mentally it's disturbing but as of now that is where it is, there are things we as a team and I need to look at."
Australia Playing XI: Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland.
India Playing XI: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma (c), Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep.
