But as they say, all good things have to come to an end. Two days into the new year, Rohit finds himself isolated, literally and figuratively. For the last two months, he has looked at sixes and sevens, struggling for form, and with runs hard to come by, for the first time in history, as long as the memory can serve right, an Indian captain is going to be dropped from the Playing XI, let alone in a Test match carrying the magnitude of a series as big as the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. ‘Rest’ may be nothing more than a word designed to sugar-coat that Rohit Sharma, captain of the Indian team, does not deserve a place in India’s Test XI.

When India’s head coach, Gautam Gambhir, refused to answer Rohit’s participation in the Playing XI, it was all the confirmation the world needed. And if that wasn’t enough, the growing distance and tension between the captain and coach underlines it all too well. As per a report in the PTI, Rohit and Gambhir were not on talking terms the entire match eve, with each individual on the other side of the ground. When two chairs were placed for India’s pre-match press conference, it was assumed that Rohit and Gambhir might finally address a PC together since, something Rohit and Rahul Dravid often did – but alas! Once again, it was only one of the two. However, India’s selection drama reached a fever pitch when Rohit and Gambhir avoided talking to each other.

“It was around half past one when Gautam Gambhir walked towards the centre strip at the Sydney Cricket Ground with Jasprit Bumrah in tow. A few minutes later, Rohit Sharma also joined the duo in the middle but there was hardly any communication between the head coach and the designated captain,” the PTI report stated.

“All present at the SCG witnessed a complete communication breakdown between skipper and the head coach. There were already enough indications but the developments on Thursday made one thing as clear as daylight. Rohit Sharma is no longer in coach Gautam Gambhir’s scheme of things after scoring just one second innings half-century in the eight Tests he has played this season.”

Rohit turns to Jasprit Bumrah and Ajit Agarkar

Clearly pained by all that’s happened with and around him, Rohit found solace in vice-captain Jasprit Bumrah and chairman of the BCCI selection committee Ajit Agarkar. Such was the equation between the captain and the coach. Rohit and even Gambhir, as a matter of fact, have time and again insisted that both share a good camaraderie and that ever since the coach took over, they are on the same page. But with the recent string of developments, such as India’s performances in Tests and the heated dressing room discussions that got leaked, things are clearly otherwise and are heading down south.

Rohit was lost one day before the start of the series decider against Australia. He came out almost 35 minutes after the main batters and wasn’t carrying his kit. In a sweatshirt, Rohit took strike, but what unfolded then was a heartbreaking sight. For the next 30-odd minutes that he practiced, Rohit was all over the place. He missed straight deliveries, which hit his stumps. For someone like Rohit, who made a career out of having a second extra, the sight of him struggling to get the bat down on time against T Dilip’s throwdown was excruciatingly painful.

“Once Rohit was done with his training, he along with Bumrah and Agarkar left the nets but Gambhir stayed back. It is learnt that during this meeting after training it was decided that Rohit Sharma would be ‘rested’, which in Indian cricket parlance means ‘dropped by intimation’,” the report added.