Rohit Sharma scripts ignominious record after Melbourne double failure as merciless fans say 'happy retirement'

Rohit Sharma scripts ignominious record after Melbourne double failure as merciless fans say ‘happy retirement’

Posted by Admin December 30, 2024 Cricket

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India captain Rohit Sharma’s horror run of form continued on Day 5 of the fourth Test match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series. The 37-year-old incurred a double failure in Melbourne to write an ignominious record. Following the dismissal before Lunch, after India were set a target of 340, fans on social media brutally attacked Rohit with ‘happy retirement’ posts.

India’s Rohit Sharma leaves the field after being dismissed on day five of the fourth cricket Test match between Australia and India at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) in Melbourne on December 30(AFP)

Rohit has been in a woeful form since September, when India’s Test calendar period for the season began. Across the three series he played so far, two of which were at home, he scored only 164 runs in 15 innings at a shocking average of just 10.93, with one half-century score. Of those, 31 runs came in the ongoing tour of Australia, where he managed just one double-digit score.

Rohit’s average at the end of the double failure in Melbourne stood just 6.20, the lowest-ever batting average for a touring captain in a Test series in Australia (minimum five innings). Previously, the record belonged to West Indies bowling legend Courtney Walsh, who had recorded an average of just 7.75 in the 1996/97 tour of Australia.

Following the dismissal against Australia captain Pat Cummins, for the fourth time in the ongoing series, fans on social media brutally attacked Rohit as “Happy Retirement” began trending on X.

Will Rohit Sharma retire at the end of MCG Test?

There have been murmurs in the media, following the retirement of Ravichandran Ashwin, that another big-name player will bid adieu to the sport during or at the end of the tour of Australia. And with Rohit struggling to find his rhythm, it has been strongly speculated that the 37-year-old might be the next to draw curtains on his Test career.

Australia great Mark Waugh felt it should happen before the start of the fifth and final Test in Sydney next week, where he rather wants Jasprit Bumrah to lead India.

“If I was a selector now, it depends what happens in the second innings, but if he doesn’t make runs in the second innings and we go to Sydney in a crucial Test match, I’d be saying ‘Rohit thank you for your service, you’ve been a great player, but we’re going to bring in Jasprit Bumrah as captain for the SCG and that’s the end of your career’,” he told Fox Cricket on Sunday.

“… it’d be a very tough way for Rohit Sharma to go … his last 14 innings’ he’s averages 11, so the signs are there that he’s past his best. It happens to all players. All great players come to an end at some stage.”