Much has been discussed before the Sydney Test, as Jasprit Bumrah appeared for the toss instead of the regular captain, Rohit Sharma. It came into the spotlight that Rohit Sharma had opted out, or rather dropped himself, to make space for an in-form batter. This is certainly a rarity in Indian cricket, as such incidents have not been seen in recent times. The veteran opener did not have a good start across the three games he played; in five innings, he scored just 31 runs.
This became the reason for him dropping himself from India’s playing XI. While such an incident hasn’t been seen in recent times, we do have examples of captains who dropped themselves from the playing XI to make way for in-form players.
Misbah-ul-Haq
Going back in time to around the 2014 ODI series against Australia, it was one of the legendary Pakistani batters, Misbah-ul-Haq, who was facing criticism and was under pressure. He scored below-par runs, which became one of the reasons the team lost both games. So, he decided to pull himself out of the next match and handed over the captaincy to Shahid Afridi. This became the prime news that the team made.
Mike Denness
It was the 1974 Ashes series where it came as a shock to many English fans when Mike Denness announced that he would not play in the fourth Test match. After suffering two defeats as leader in the first two games, with the third match ending in a draw, all-rounder Tony Greig captained the Three Lions, but failed to deliver any fruitful results.
Dinesh Chandimal
One of the biggest incidents of a player dropping himself came in the 2014 T20 World Cup. That’s correct, the same tournament they won. Dinesh Chandimal, who was their regular captain, announced that he would not play in the knockout games. Then, Lasith Malinga took over the charge and led the team to victory by defeating India in the final.
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