Rohit Sharma's Test captaincy future hinges on ‘Gambhir’s viewpoint': ‘He voluntarily benched himself’
Rohit Sharma could continue as Test captain for the upcoming five-match series against England.
India's win in the ICC Men's Champions Trophy 2025 might lead to Rohit Sharma continuing as the Test captain for the upcoming five-match series against England in June-July. The right-handed batter looked like a pale shadow of himself in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, and the situation got so worse that Rohit stood down from the last Test in Sydney.
However, Rohit has turned a corner in the white-ball formats, leading India to their second ICC title in eight months. India had a near-to-perfect campaign in the eight-team tournament, unbeaten to win the title.
Under Rohit Sharma, India suffered six defeats in the last eight Tests the team played, including a home 0-3 whitewash at the hands of New Zealand. As a result, for the first time, India failed to make it to the finals of the World Test Championship (WTC). Rohit's return with the bat in the longest format, left a lot to be desired.
Rohit even returned to the Ranji Trophy, representing Mumbai against Jammu and Kashmir. However, he failed to make it count.
However, as per a report by news agency PTI, Rohit remains the Test captain as he benched himself from the last match in Sydney.
"Technically, Rohit remains the Test captain. He voluntarily benched himself from the last Test in Sydney where he explained that a team can't carry on with multiple out of form batters," PTI quoted a BCCI source as saying.
"After Australia Tests, India haven't played any Tests, and hence, there has been no change in Test captaincy. Also, Rohit never said he doesn't want to play Tests," the source added.
Final call to be taken later
The same PTI report also stated that the final call will be taken later as head coach Gautam Gambhir's viewpoint will carry a lot of weightage in deciding the captaincy for the longest format.
"The selection committee gets a break during IPL. Obviously, with all matches televised, they always don't need to travel unless they have some specific strategy or they want to watch a particular player from up close," the source said.
"So once IPL starts, the blueprint for the England series will be drawn at some point. But (coach) Gautam Gambhir's viewpoint will have a lot of weightage," the source added.
After standing down from the Sydney Test against Australia, Rohit Sharma confirmed he is not retiring and is not going anywhere. Even after the Champions Trophy win, Rohit reasserted that he is not calling it quits from ODI cricket.
"One more thing. I am not going to retire from this format. Just to make sure there are no rumours spread moving forward. Thank you so much," Rohit said after the Champions Trophy win.
