Jasprit Bumrah took the field as skipper for the fifth Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Sydney after regular captain Rohit Sharma decided to ‘rest’ following his poor show in the series.
The match is significant since India need a win to retain the trophy.
Rohit Sharma’s lean patch has been grabbing headlines in recent times, with the skipper scoring at an average of 6.2 in five innings in the ongoing Test series.
In three matches, Sharma scored just 31 runs.
His poor show with the bat was also seen in the home series against Bangladesh and New Zealand, where he scored at an average of 13.30 in the ten innings he played.
In the high-stakes match, Shubman Gill replaced Sharma for the third position.
In his Test career, Sharma has scored 4,301 runs in 67 matches at an average of 40.57.
He has also scored 12 centuries and 18 fifties.
After taking over the reign from Virat Kohli in 2022, Sharma led the Indian squad in 24 Test matches.
Bumrah led the Indian squad in the first Test in Sharma’s absence.
Under the pacer’s leadership, India won the first match and took a 1-0 lead.
Australia, however, bounced back and won the second match to level the series.
The following Test ended in a rain-marred draw. In Melbourne, Australia won the match to take an unassailable 2-1 lead.
Meanwhile, there are speculations that Sharma might announce his retirement from the longest format of the game after the Sydney Test, if India fails to qualify for the finals of the ICC World Test Championship, which will be played by South Africa and one among India, Australia or Sri Lanka.
Last year, Sharma helped India win the T20 World Cup after a gap of 17 years and break the team’s jinx at ICC events. He immediately announced his retirement from T20 International cricket after the tournament. Few months later, he also became the first Test captain to lose a series at home, in a decade, as New Zealand thrashed India 3-0 to shock the cricketing world.
