Former India coach Ravi Shastri on Friday said he expects skipper Rohit Sharma to “pull the plug” on his red-ball career after being ruled out of the fifth Test against Australia in Sydney.
The 37-year-old opener’s performance was poor and the writing was on the wall when he failed to turn up for the press conference on the eve of the match in India.
Instead, coach Gautam Gambhir faced the media and refused to throw his support behind him.
Team captain Jasprit Bumrah insisted during the toss on Friday that Rohit “chose to rest” for the good of the team rather than being forced out.
But Shastri doubts that this is the end of Rohit’s 67-Test career, expecting to announce his retirement after the match.
“It’s still a brave call for the captain to say: ‘I’m ready to come on the bench for this match,'” Shastri said while commenting on the match. Fox Sports.
“If there was a home season coming up, he might be thinking about continuing, but I think he might pull the plug at the end of this Test.
“It’s not that India doesn’t have young players. There are very good players on the wings and it’s time to build.
“Difficult decisions, but there is a time for everything.”
Rohit quit international T20 cricket last year after lifting the World Cup, but he is yet to end his ODI career.
He missed the first Test in Perth upon the birth of his second child and has not looked fully engaged since, failing to exceed 10 runs in any of his five innings.
His recent form comes on the back of a similarly poor comeback during India’s 3-0 home loss to New Zealand during October and November.
“Our captain has shown his leadership. He has chosen to rest in this match,” Bumrah said during the draw.
“It shows that there is a lot of unity in our team, and there is no selfishness, whatever is in the best interest of the team, and we look forward to doing that.”
If Rohit resigns, it will be the second retirement for the tour with off-spin great Ravichandran Ashwin returning home after the third Test at the Gabba.
Ashwin was not selected for Brisbane, which appeared to be the final straw for the 38-year-old.