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India test match captain, Rohit Sharma, said sitting out the final match of the series against Australia due to poor form does not mean he will retire, adding that critics will not decide when he should walk away from the sport.
Rohit was dropped after scoring only 31 runs in five innings as India look to draw the final test and retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, with pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah replacing him as captain in Sydney.
Rohit has only one fifty in his last 15 test innings, which include 10 single-digit scores, but the 37-year-old said he had confidence in himself to turn things around.
“This decision is not a retirement decision nor am I going to take myself out of the game,” Rohit told Star Sports broadcaster on day two of the Sydney test.
“I sat out of this match because I’m not scoring runs. There is no guarantee that runs will not come two or five months down the line. I have seen a lot in cricket. Every minute, every second, every day life changes.
“I have belief that things will change, but at the same time I have to be realistic as well. So life won’t change by what someone with a mic, pen or laptop writes or says. I’ve played the game for years.
“They can’t decide when we should retire, when we should sit out, when we should captain. I am a sensible man, a mature man, a father of two kids. So I think I know what I need in life.”
With India trailing 2-1 ahead of the fifth and final test, Rohit said he “stood down” after a discussion with the selectors and head coach Gautam Gambhir, who had declined to confirm on the eve of the game if the batter would play.
The match is finely poised with India at 141-6 in the second innings, leading Australia by 145 runs.
“The chat that I had with the coach and the selector was very simple – my bat is not scoring runs, I am not in form, this is an important match and we need players who are in form,” Rohit added.
“The boys are not in great form. So I had this simple thought in my mind – we can’t carry out-of-form players.
“That’s why I thought I should inform the coach and the selector about what’s on my mind. They backed my decision. They said, ‘You’ve been playing for many years, you’re the best judge of what you are doing.’”
India’s next test series is away against England and Rohit will be 38-years-old when the series begins in June.
