Rohit Sharma's Test future uncertain after Border-Gavaskar Trophy

India's captain Rohit Sharma's place in the Test team is highly uncertain for the next cycle of the World Test Championship beginning June 20 this year.

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The beleaguered batsman opting out of the crucial fifth match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy does not necessarily mean that it is the end of the road for him in Tests.

It just means that the “out-of-form” captain has made a way for other players in this match.

But it's a rarity in Indian team set-up for a captain to do so.

Former India captain and commentator Sunil Gavaskar on Star Sports said it has probably happened for the first time in the Indian team.

Rohit Sharma has probably played his last Test at Melbourne. India would be looking for someone who can lead a side in the next WTC cycle (2025-2027) for the next two years, he added.

Speaking on Triple M Cricket, former Australia captain Mark Taylor opined, "He’s no doubt, he’s been dropped."

As a captain, Rohit led the side in 24 Tests, won 12, drew three, and lost nine. His reign as a Test captain is rated very good in home conditions.

Away from home in eight Tests, he has won two, drawn two and lost four. But it is as a batsman where Rohit Sharma's troubles began.

The opener has been dismissed in single digits 10 times in the past 15 innings this year and averages 10.93 in the last eight matches.

This is the most for a top-seven batter in a season. Virat Kohli has nine single-digit dismissals this season.

Under Rohit Sharma, India lost five Tests this season, the most for an Indian captain in a season, a rarity that occurred only under Sachin Tendulkar's captaincy in 1999-2000.

The 37-year-old's diminishing reflexes, flaws in his already minimal footwork, finally led him to stand down at Sydney. Rohit had always been like this, but despite all of it, he was a prolific scorer as well.

In 67 Tests, he scored 4,301 runs at an average of 40.57 with 12 centuries. It is his six-hitting skills and an ability to accelerate right from the start, which made him a 'hitman', among the Indian cricket fans.

The problem began when runs stopped coming off his bat for the past one year. After a loss in the MCG Test, Rohit accepted that runs were not coming off his bat as the way it should be and it was mentally disturbing.

Rohit Sharma's legacy as a Test captain is that of playing fearless cricket upfront by giving quick starts and forcing results in India's favour at home.

Having taken over Test captaincy from Virat Kohli in 2021, he Mumbaikar discarded the traditional approach to guarded starts in the Tests and chose the 'attack-first' game.

He was prepared to take occasional failures in his stride and said he would back the team going for the kill every time. His insistence on playing the pull shot, a way of countering the short balls, despite getting out several times, is just a reflection of this approach.

As a captain and a Test opener, he was successful in rubbing off this approach to the youngsters in the team as well.