Sydney, Jan 3: Legendary cricketer Sunil Gavaskar feels that India captain Rohit Sharma has played his last Test for the team at Melbourne Cricket Ground after opting to rest for the fifth Test against Australia in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy series.

Rohit's participation in the final match of the series was uncertain following head coach Gautam Gambhir's uncanny reply on the captain's inclusion in the playing 11 during the pre-match press conference on Thursday.

However, later in the evening on Thursday, it became evident that Rohit would not play in the match. Come the toss, Jasprit Bumrah donned the captain's hat while Shubman Gill replaced Rohit in the playing 11. The other change in India's team was that Prasidh Krishna replaced the injured Akash Deep.

Rohit's struggle with the bat pressured him to leave the spot for the youngster. He scored just 31 runs across five innings in three Tests, appearing far from his usual self and struggling to execute even his signature shots, including his trademark front pull. The year 2024 was particularly challenging for Rohit in Test cricket. Over 14 matches and 26 innings, he managed to score 619 runs at an average of 24.76, with only two centuries and a single half-century to his name.

With the current World Test Championship (WTC) cycle culminating for India with the Australia tour, Gavaskar feels it is the right time to look for the upcoming cycle.

"Well, I think what it probably means is that India don't qualify for the World Test Championship final. To me, it looks that the Melbourne Test would be Rohit Sharma's last game. The new cycle of the World Test Championship will start from the England series, so they will look to have somebody who will be available for 2027 final. Whether India gets to the final or not is another matter, but I think that's what the selection committee will do. Therefore maybe we've probably seen Rohit Sharma for the last time in Test cricket," Gavaskar said on Star Sports.

The veteran suggested that Ajit Agarkar, the chairman of the selection committee, likely played a key role in the decision to rest Rohit for the final Test of the series. With India trailing 1-2 ahead of the Sydney Test, a win in the final match was crucial to keeping their hopes alive for a spot in the WTC final.

"At the end of the day he's also part of the selection committee. What happens in Indian cricket is there is a selection committee which chooses the squad to go to travel overseas. Then when you come overseas, the captain, the coach, and I think if there's one selector, they generally form the selection committee. I believe the chairman of the selection committee, Ajit Agarkar here in town, so he would have been part of the call that was taken. Maybe some of the senior players in the team would have been asked," Gavaskar added.

On being asked by Ravi Shastri about Rohit after winning the toss, Bumrah said, "Our captain has shown leadership; he has opted to rest. It shows the unity we have. We have two changes. Rohit has opted out and Prasidh comes in for the injured Akash Deep."

(IANS)

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