Amid widespread specualtion that he will be retiring from Tests, India skipper and senior batter Rohit Sharma, on Saturday, clarified that he "stood down" from the ongoing Sydney Test against Australia because of poor form. He categorically denied he is retiring from any format of the game.
"I have not retired. I stood down, that is what I would say,” Sharma told Star Sports. “Basically, the chat that I had with the coach and the selectors was very simple. That I am not able to score runs, there is no form, it is an important match and we need a player with form. As it is, in our batting, the form of the boys is not that good. So, you cannot carry a lot of out-of-form players in the team. This simple thing was going on in my mind,” he reasoned.
"That is why I wanted to tell the coach and the selector that this is what is going on in my mind. They backed my decision. They said that you have been playing for so many years. You know what you are doing. So, for me, it was difficult to take this decision. But if everything is kept in front, then this decision was sensible. I will not think much further," Sharma added.
“I am not going anywhere.”
In his absence, pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah is leading the team, while Shubman Gill was included in the playing XI for the crucial fifth and final Test match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series, which India are trailing 1-2.
