Indian captain Rohit Sharma may not be a surety for the fifth and final Test against Australia, set to begin on Friday, January 3 in Sydney. Rohit, who has been in woeful form in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy scoring just 31 runs in five innings, averages just a little over six and the head coach Gautam Gambhir remained tight-lipped about whether the 37-year-old will play or not in the series decider.
"Everything is fine with Rohit and I don't think it's anything traditional," Gambhir said after being asked why Rohit didn't address the media in the pre-match press conference. "The head coach is here and that should be good enough," he added.
"We are going to have a look at the wicket and finalise it tomorrow," the head coach said if Rohit Sharma would make the playing XI or not. When pressed by the reporter once again on Rohit's place, the former India opener replied, "I just said that we’re going to have a look at the wicket and announce a playing XI tomorrow. The answer remains the same."
The reports on the eve of the SCG Test suggested that all may not be well in the dressing room for the Indian team and the head coach, the selector and the leadership might not be on the same page. However, with a chance of qualifying for the World Test Championship (WTC) final still alive and levelling the series, the visitors will be keen to go into the SCG Test with their best possible XI.
Pacer Akash Deep has already been ruled out of the clash after being confirmed by the head coach, due to a back issue while India will be mulling whether to go into the New Year's Test with an extra spinner or four pure pace bowling options with two all-rounders. India did add batting depth to their line-up with the combination they went with for the Boxing Day Test, however, it affected the balance of the side, both with bat and the ball.
Australia are 2-1 ahead for India to qualify for the the WTC final, they have to win in Sydney to stay alive in the race.
