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The captain of the Indian cricket team is sitting out of a crucial Test match for the first time ever in the middle of an ongoing series as defeats in Australia beckon generational change in the country’s most popular and richest sport.
Rohit Sharma, 37, opted out of the final Test in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Sydney to “rest,” head coach Gautam Gambhir said on Friday. Sharma’s decision follows a series of low scores adding up to 31 runs in five knocks, and his deputy Jasprit Bumrah will take over as the captain in the test.
India needs to win the Sydney Test to stay in contention for the ICC World Test Championship final, but its track record at the venue is far from inspiring. Of the 13 Tests it has played at the Sydney Cricket Ground till date, the South Asian nation has just managed to win just one, while losing five and drawing seven.
Cricket, a quintessential English summer sport, has legions of fans in mostly the British Commonwealth countries, and particularly in the Indian subcontinent. The nation’s cricketers rake in millions of dollars through fees for playing and for brand endorsements.
A report in Mint newspaper estimates batter Virat Kohli’s net worth at 10.50 billion rupees ($122 million) and that of Sharma at 2.14 billion rupees ($25 million). UK-based media company SportsPro in 2022 named Kohli in its list of most marketable athletes globally.
Despite India’s miserable tour so far, stellar performances from younger players, including opener Yashasvi Jaiswal and all rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy, give hope that the team is now ready to move beyond its venerated but aging stars like Sharma, Kolhli and Ravindra Jadeja. India’s second highest wicket taker in Tests, Ravichandran Ashwin, retired midway through the current series after having played only in the Adelaide Test.
Jaiswal’s knock of 161 in the Perth Test put India on course for a massive win, while Nitish Reddy’s century in the Melbourne Test helped India avoid the follow-on and restrict Australia’s lead to 105 runs.
Former Test captain Ravi Shastri said he would not be surprised if Sharma retired. “He’ll take a call on his career but I won’t be shocked at all (if Sharma retires) because he’s not getting younger,” Shastri said. Sunil Gavaskar, also a former Test captain, was more blunt, saying Sharma may already have played his last match. Sharma is yet to make any comment on his departure from the match.
(Updates with players’ net worth in fifth paragraph.)
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