Rohit Sharma has been facing criticism for his Test captaincy as well as poor run with the bat, with speculation rife that the India captain has played his last Test and will soon pull the curtains down on his international career, possibly after the Champions Trophy.
The torrid time for 37-year-old Rohit began with the New Zealand Test series at home, where India suffered an embarrassing 0-3 whitewash and Rohit’s failure with the bat evidently affected his confidence as captain.
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The trend continued in Australia. In his five innings during the Border Gavaskar Trophy, Rohit scored just 31 runs for an average of 6.20, which is a new record for a visiting captain in Australia. To make it worse, India lost the series 1-3 and Rohit had to even ‘step aside’ from the playing eleven in the fifth Test at Sydney.
India’s next Test assignment will be another tough tour, when the team travels to England for a series of five Tests this June-July; and former Australia wicketkeeper-batter Adam Gilchrist doesn’t see Rohit as part of that squad.
“I don’t see Rohit going to England,” Gilchrist said, speaking on the Club Prairie Fire podcast.
“I just felt that he says he will assess it when he gets home. I mean, the first thing he will be met with when he gets home is a two-month-old baby that he has to change the nappies on. Now that might incentivise him to go to England. But I don’t see him pressing on,” Gilchrist added, referring to the birth of Rohit’s second child just before the tour of Australia.
The BCCI had long back announced Rohit as the captain for the ICC Champions Trophy, which begins on February 19. Gilchrist believes the tournament might mark Rohit’s last appearance in international cricket.
“I think he’ll probably have a crack at the Champions Trophy and that might be…that might see him out,” said Gilchrist.