Bumrah in as India captain after Sharma ‘rests’ for final Test match

Indian Test captain Rohit Sharma is being “rested” for the fifth and decisive Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series, with world-class bowler and India’s best player Jasprit Bumrah expected to take the team helm.

Rohit informed coach Gautam Gambhir and India’s selectors of his decision to opt out on Thursday.

Gambhir and selector chairman Aji Agarkar were reportedly happy with the call.

To replace Rohit in the batting lineup, Shubman Gill has been called up again. Gill was originally dropped before the Melbourne Test, which India lost in dramatic late fashion on the fifth day. He is expected to bat third; KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal will open the Indian order on Friday when the Sydney Test gets underway.

Elsewhere in the team picks, Rishabh Pant is retaining his spot despite some doubts about his place while Prasidh Krishna will replace an injured Akash Deep, who was ruled out of the series’ last battle earlier this week.

Coach Gambhir had originally said “everything was fine” regarding Rohit’s spot in the starting XI – a stance The Sporting Base suspects he would have held right up until the now-benched captain scratched himself from the playing squad.

Rohit’s time may be up in the India Test setup for the foreseeable future; he’s struggled with the bat recently and averaged 6.2 through the last three Test matches in the series. That only goes up marginally, to 10.93, when you go back nine Tests. His captaincy tenure also saw India whitewashed by New Zealand before this Australian tour.

Bumrah last led India in Perth, where his team scored their only Test victory of the 2024-25 series.

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