‘Captain Should Never Be Dropped’: Navjot Singh Sidhu Backs Indian Captain Rohit Sharma After He Opts Out Of Sydney Test

The Indian team stepped out on the ground in the fifth and final Test against Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground without the services of Rohit Sharma. Star pacer Jasprit Bumrah was handed over the captaincy onus.

A Captain should never be dropped midstream nor given the option to opt out … sends wrong signals …. Have seen Captain s like Mark Taylor , Azharuddin etc persisted as captain for a year despite bad form …. ImRo45 deserved more respect and faith from the management …… pic.twitter.com/OJcSF9r3fU
— Navjot Singh Sidhu (sherryontopp) January 3, 2025

“A Captain should never be dropped midstream nor given the option to opt out … sends wrong signals …. Have seen captains like Mark Taylor, Azharuddin etc persisted as captains for a year despite bad form …. @ImRo45 deserved more respect and faith from the management … Bizarre coz it happened for the first time in Indian cricket history ….Blunder – for a fallen lighthouse is more dangerous than a reef !” Sidhu said.

Earlier, Rohit faced a lot of criticism after he lost five of his last six Tests as captain. Under his leadership, the Indian team also lost the home Test series against New Zealand 3-0 last year. Talking about the ongoing fifth Test between India and Australia, the visitors batted first and managed to score only 185 runs on the board on Day 1. Senior batter Virat Kohli could only score 17 runs off 69 balls. Rishabh Pant was the top scorer for the Indian team as he made gutsy 40 runs.

Australia Squad: Pat Cummins (C), Alex Carey (WK), Usman Khawaja, Nathan McSweeney, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood, Josh Inglis, Scott Boland.

India Squad: Rohit Sharma (C), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Devdutt Padikkal, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant(w), Dhruv Jurel, Nitish Reddy, Ravichandran Ashwin, Akash Deep, Jasprit Bumrah(vc), Mohammed Siraj, Sarfaraz Khan, Prasidh Krishna, Ravindra Jadeja, Harshit Rana, Washington Sundar, Abhimanyu Easwaran.