It was around 1.30 o’clock when India’s head coach Gautam Gambhir took Jasprit Bumrah along with him towards the middle pitch of the Sydney Cricket Ground. After a few minutes, Rohit Sharma also joined the two, but there was hardly any communication between the head coach and the captain. After this, Gambhir reached the press conference organized on the eve of the match (usually the captain attends it). Then he decided not to confirm Rohit’s place in the playing eleven for the fifth and final Test.
When asked about Rohit’s place in the team, Gambhir said, “We will see the pitch and decide.” Speaking to the media, Gambhir also talked about ‘honesty’ and ‘performance is the only criteria to remain in the Indian dressing room’. Soon after, he was seen chatting with Bumrah while the rest of his teammates were ‘warming up’.
Everyone present at the SCG saw the lack of communication between the captain and the head coach. There were already enough indications of this but the developments on Thursday made it completely clear. Rohit Sharma is no longer included in coach Gautam Gambhir’s plans as he has been able to score only one half-century in the eight Test matches played this season.
It is learned that an influential cricket administrator has spoken to the head coach about whether the captain can be allowed to retire from Tests after playing the Sydney match. But the head coach’s priority is to ensure that India wins in Sydney and remains in the race for a place in the World Test Championship (WTC) final.
The situation is such that Rohit was more comfortable talking to vice-captain Bumrah and chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar than head coach Gambhir. Everything became clear after a match of ‘foot volley’ with a different kind of ‘slip cordon’ in which Rohit and Rishabh Pant were on one side and Virat Kohli on the other.
When Rishabh Pant was behind the stumps for the ‘slip catching’ session, the batsman was followed by Virat Kohli at first slip, KL Rahul at second slip, Nitish Kumar Reddy at third slip and Yashasvi Jaiswal at gully. Rohit was nowhere as he was heading towards the practice field outside the main stadium.
Ravindra Jadeja was the first player to practice on ‘throwdown’. Then Kohli entered, followed by Jaiswal and KL Rahul. The top-order batting order became somewhat clear when Shubman Gill joined the nets. During this time Rohit and Bumrah were in the dressing room. The one who looked most troubled was Kohli who was bowled twice during the session, once by Nitish Reddy and the second time by Washington Sundar.
Pant was also facing Dayanand Garani in one of the throwdown nets. After Pant finished his net session, instead of going back to the dressing room, he went towards the small wooden gallery where Gill’s parents were sitting. They were allowed to go to the gallery area. After about 35 minutes, Rohit silently went to the net area without his kit.
Gambhir was standing away from the net and talking to Bumrah. On the other hand, Rohit was talking to video analyst Hari Prasad. They stood at their respective places and there was no conversation between them.
Rohit entered the nets after the top order finished its season. It was just like at MCG where he came to bat after all the top-order batsmen had finished practice while he was supposed to open the innings.
How did Rohit look during his 30 minutes of practice? He was bowled after T Dilip missed the line of throwdown. His reaction to the balls was late. The most interesting aspect was that when Rohit was batting, Reddy in the adjacent net looked to be in great form as he played most of the balls well.
After Rohit’s training was over, he left the nets along with Bumrah and Agarkar, but Gambhir stayed there. It is learned that in this meeting held after training, it was decided that Rohit Sharma will be given rest, which in the language of Indian cricket means ‘to be dropped after giving information’. After about 45 minutes to an hour, most of the players came out of the main gate, heading towards the team bus. Rohit did not come with the team and came out from another gate and boarded the bus.
