NEW DELHI: In keeping with what TimesofIndia.com had reported a day prior, instead of Rohit Sharma it was Jasprit Bumrah who came for the toss against Australia for the fifth Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Friday.
Bumrah won the toss in overcast conditions and a grassy pitch and opted to bat first.
India made two changes in their playing XI from the last Test with Shubman Gill replacing Rohit Sharma and Prasidh Krishna coming in for Akash Deep.
After winning the toss, Bumrah said, “We are looking to bat first. We have played some good cricket. The last match was exciting. The grass doesn’t look spicy. We always have learnt to digest defeats. We will look forward to this.”
On being asked by Ravi Shastri about Rohit Sharma, Bumrah said, “Our captain has shown leadership, he has opted to rest. It shows the unity we have. We have two changes. Rohit has opted out and Prasidh comes in for the injured Akash Deep.”
Rohit made the call after scoring 31 runs in five innings across three Tests and looked like a pale shadow of himself in those innings, struggling to execute even his bread and butter shots including the trademark front pull.
Rohit had a dreadful 2024 in Test cricket. In 14 Tests and 26 innings, Rohit scored 619 runs at an average of 24.76, hitting two centuries and a half-century.
Both of these hundreds – a 131 in Rajkot and a 103 in Dharamsala – came against England.
Rohit’s last Test fifty came in the second innings of the first Test against New Zealand – a series that India lost 0-3, the first time that India lost three straight Tests at home.
With scores of 3, 6, 10, 3 and 9 from five innings on this tour, Rohit has scored 31 runs at an average of 6.2 – the lowest batting average for a touring captain in a Test series in Australia (minimum five innings).
Not just that, Rohit’s average of 6.2 is the second lowest average for a top order (1-6) batter in a Test series in Australia (minimum 100 balls).
India XI: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant(w), Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah(c), Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj
