Several experts were taken aback after India skipper Rohit Sharma ‘opted out’ of the Playing XI for the fifth Test against Australia in Sydney on Friday. India are being led by star pacer Jasprit Bumrah for the final Test of the five-match series. The hosts have already gained an unassailable 2-1 lead after winning the fourth match in Melbourne by 184 runs. Rohit was facing severe criticism for his poor leadership and batting skills from many former cricketers and fans. Under Bumrah’s captaincy, India won the opening Test by 10 wickets and he was handed over the job again for the final game. 

At the toss, Bumrah stated that Rohit “has opted to rest”. However, this statement from the pacer was completely turned down by the former Australian cricketer Mark Taylor. 

Taylor stated that Rohit has been “dropped” as no captain will ever choose to rest in the final game of the series. 

“To be honest, that’s, what do I call that. That’s once again, sidestepping the point. The bottom line is the captain of a country does not opt out for the final Test match, the final deciding Test match of a series,” Taylor said on Triple M Cricket.

Rohit Sharma has… chosen to rest?

Mark Taylor: “He’s been dropped and I don’t know why they don’t just say he’s been dropped.”#AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/SHfHCuJwcn

— Triple M Cricket (@triplemcricket) January 2, 2025

“He has been dropped and I don’t know why they just don’t say he’s been dropped. That doesn’t mean he’s dropped forever, it means he’s missing this match because he is out of form. That’s not a crime. That is unfortunately professional sports,” he added. 

During the toss, Bumrah outline the unity in the team by stating that’s decision of resting was a selfless one. 

“Our captain has shown leadership by opting to rest in this game. That shows there’s a lot of unity in this team. There’s no selfishness. Whatever is in the team’s best interest we are looking to do that. Two changes, Rohit has opted to rest and Akash Deep is injured so Prasidh comes in,” Jasprit Bumrah said at the toss.

“We’ve played some really good cricket in this series. The last match was pretty exciting. hopefully we can put up a good show. It seems to be some grass. It doesn’t look to have too many demons or look too spicy. Obviously there will be a challenge with the new ball but if you get through it’s always a god batting track.”

Rohit made the call after scoring 31 runs in five innings across three Tests. The 37-year-old white ball great looked like a pale shadow of himself in those innings, struggling to execute even his bread and butter shots including the trademark front pull.

Former Australian captain Mark Taylor believes Mohammed Siraj has a tendency of celebrating wickets prematurely without waiting for the umpire’s decision and his senior India teammates should have a word with the pacer to address this as it is giving him a “bad look”. Taylor said Siraj charges down the wicket towards his teammates, without checking the umpire’s decision when he thinks that he has got a batter out. “I think with Mohammed Siraj, I’d like to see some of the Indian players have a chat with him, not so much what happened with Travis Head but how when he thinks he’s got a batter out he doesn’t turn around and actually acknowledge the umpire whether he’s given it out or not,” Taylor told Nine News.

“I think that’s the bad look for him and the game.”

“I love his exuberance, I love his competitive nature, I love the fact we’ve got a really good series going on but there is also the respect of the game that needs to be upheld. I think a little word from one of the senior players would go a long way.”

Siraj has become a topic of discussion after his brief showdown with Travis Head on day two of the Adelaide Test, which Australia won by 10 wickets to level the series 1-1.

Head had struck a splendid 141-ball knock of 140 before being castled by Siraj, who went on to give him an aggressive send-off following an exchange of words. The Indian endured booes from the Adelaide crowd following the confrontation.

Both players were handed one demerit point each on their disciplinary records with Siraj also receiving a fine of 20 percent of his match fee.

“I love the combative nature of Head and Siraj, but it has to be kept in check because the last thing we want to see in this game is that developing into a batsman maybe whacking a bowler.

“They get close together in that sort of situation and you don’t want to see that. So the administrators need to keep a check on that, and so do the two captains,” Taylor added.

Former Australia batter Simon Katich felt Siraj had a “brain fade” moment, which the Indian regretted later.

“It’s a shame that Siraj had a bit of a brain fade…there’s no need for that in the game,” Katich said SEN Radio.

“He would regret that Siraj… it was all spur of the moment and when he got Mitchell Starc out not long after that he was pretty sheepish.

“You don’t know what head space some of the players are in at times… he was probably disappointed with his performance and something like this can happen,” he added.

File image of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.© AFP

File image of Cameron Green© AFP