Sydney: Was it a good decision? Was it the right decision? Who took it? Did he opt out? Was he forced out? Will he call it quits?
The questions had been never-ending and with the Indian cricket team working in its regular secret service mode, there was no way to know the real answers to them. In a way, this Sydney Test has been about Rohit Sharma without him actually playing a part in it.
All the talk in the lead up was about why the India skipper was missing. It started on the eve of the game with a Gautam Gambhir press conference and the issue should finally be put to rest after Rohit spoke to Star Sports in an interview during lunch time on Day 2 of the final Test.
There have been various theories doing the rounds but Rohit dismissed them all with a trademark display with the mic in hand.
“This decision is not a retirement decision,” he said. “Nor am I going to take myself out of the game.
“I sat out of this match because runs are not coming off my bat. There is no guarantee runs won’t come five or two months down the line. I have seen a lot in cricket that life changes every second, every minute, every day.”
The 37-year-old knows that time isn’t on his side but at the same time, he wants to be realistic about his way back into runs and the team. White-ball cricket could get the feet moving and the confidence up and scoring runs is the only way out of the rut he currently finds himself in.
“I have confidence in me that things can change, but at the same time I have to be realistic as well. So, life won’t change by what people with a mic, pen or laptop write or say. They can’t decide when we should retire, when we should sit out, when we should captain. I am a sensible man, mature man, father of two kids. So, I know what I need in life.”
The timing of the decision had struck many as odd. And On Day 1 of the Test, Rishabh Pant had spoken about how not everyone in the team knew what was happening behind the scenes.
“I made this decision after coming here (to Sydney),” Rohit said. “We had only two days between the matches. On New Year’s eve, I didn’t want to have this chat with the selector and the coach. But it was in my mind that I am trying my best but I am not getting the runs. I have to accept it and have to get myself out of the way.”
He added: “The chat that I had with the coach and the selector was very simple: I am not scoring runs, I am not in form, this is an important match, and we need players who are in form. As it is, the boys are not in great form. So, I had this simple thought in my mind: we can’t carry out-of-form players.
“That’s why I thought I should tell the coach and the selector what’s going on in my mind. They backed my decision. They said you have been playing for so many years, you are the best judge of what you are doing.”
And Rohit’s judgement was that he needed a break because it would be better for the team.
“It was a difficult decision for me, but if you keep everything in mind, this was a sensible decision,” he said. “I am not thinking too far. Right now, what does the team need? That is what I was thinking. Nothing else.”
Given that a decision like this could even spell the end of his Test career, it was a brave call and one that, in time, India may truly come to appreciate even more.
