The pressure on Team India captain Rohit Sharma is continuously increasing. After getting a 0-3 clean sweep in the home Test series at the hands of New Zealand, Team India is struggling under his captaincy even on the Australia tour. Rohit's captaincy is constantly under question and the runs from his bat have completely dried up. There are demands for his removal and exclusion from the team. This has raised questions - will Rohit retire after the Melbourne Test? Will Jasprit Bumrah captain the team in the Sydney Test? Former Australian opener Mark Waugh has said that if he had been the selector of the Indian team, he would have done exactly this.
While commentating on the fourth day of the Melbourne Test, Mark Waugh made this sharp statement about the Indian captain and directly supported his ouster after this Test. Rohit, who returned to Team India from the Adelaide Test, failed in both the innings of the day-night match and then his bat did not work in Brisbane also. He was out after playing bad shots in the first innings of Melbourne Test.
Seeing this performance of Rohit, he is being advised to drop or retire. Mark Waugh, who was commenting on the series for Australian broadcaster Fox Cricket, said that he would have done the same had he failed in the second innings of the Melbourne Test. He said, "If I was a selector... and he didn't score runs even in the second innings (of the Melbourne Test) and we went to Sydney for the decider, I would have told him 'Rohit, thank you for your services, you have been a great player. But we are making Jasprit Bumrah the captain for the SCG Test and your career ends here'.”
Now whether this will happen or not will depend on how Rohit performs in the second innings on the last day of the Melbourne Test on 30 December. Team India will have to achieve the target of more than 330 runs to win. If Team India fails here and Rohit himself does not bat, then the pressure on them will increase further. Rohit has batted in 4 innings so far in this series and has been able to score only 22 runs. He has been able to stay at the crease for only 70 balls.
