ロヒット・シャルマを引退させ、テストに勝利：ヒットマンの最後の12イニングはインドが前進しなければならない兆候であり、インドのキャプテンを降ろす

Rohit Sharma’s miserable form in the latter half of 2024 continues, with the Indian skipper facing twin failures in his very first outing in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. The Hitman returned to the Indian side for IND vs AUS 2nd Test in Adelaide and played in the middle order – a territory that is very much familiar to him – only to register poor scores in both innings. In his last 12 innings, Rohit Sharma’s average has been very poor. Well, if India want to take a step into the future and ensure a smooth transition, then now is the right time to drop Rohit Sharma from Tests.

Why India need to drop Rohit Sharma from Tests?

Rohit Sharma has consistently failed to deliver in the longest format of the game following his retirement after India’s T20 World Cup win. His form, which saw a dip in the home series against Bangladesh, continued in the series against New Zealand and now against Australia in IND vs AUS 2nd Test. In his last 12 innings, the Hitman has registered scores of 6, 5, 23, 8, 2, 52, 0, 8, 18, 11, 3, 6, averaging just 11.83. Barring one half-century, Sharma has majority of single-digit scores in his last few innings, casting aspersions on whether he deserves a place in the side.

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It is not that India cannot function without Rohit Sharma in the longest format of the game. It was pretty evident from the IND vs AUS 1st Test in Perth that India had found a more able captain and a better opener in place of the Hitman. KL Rahul did an excellent job as he returned to the role of an opener and struck the perfect chord with Yashasvi Jaiswal. As for captaincy, Jasprit Bumrah has time and again proved his ability to lead the side in his short stints as captain and could potentially be a full-time captain for India, should the selectors take a bold decision. Not to forget, India sans Rohit Sharma romped home to a 295-run win against Australia in IND vs AUS 1st Test in Perth.

A bold decision was taken in IND vs AUS 2nd Test when the team decided that it was best for Rohit Sharma to bat in the middle-order and not open. The time is not far away when another such call needs to be taken to drop the Indian skipper from the team for the good of the side. There’s no doubt that the Hitman is one of the finest cricketers produced by India across formats, but perhaps it is now time for India to reassess the situation and take a quick call as the BGT series seems to be slipping away from their hands.