The fifth Test match between India and Australia has brought some big surprises, with the main one being that Rohit Sharma is not in the team. This is the first time in a long while that the captain himself has decided to opt out of the Indian playing XI. Although opting out is quite common, many international captains have done so in the past, but along with this the speculation around this situation is whether Rohit Sharma was dropped from the team due to his poor captaincy in recent times in Test cricket. If that happens, it would certainly make big news, although such a scenario hasn’t occurred recently in the Indian team. However, it did happen in the past, way back in 2005, when Sourav Ganguly was dropped after a fallout with Greg Chappell, the Indian coach at the time.
When was the last time an Indian captain was dropped from Team India
It goes way back to around 2005 when Indian captain Sourav Ganguly was dropped from the Indian team. This situation arose due to the strained coach-player relationship between Ganguly and Greg Chappell. The issue escalated during the Zimbabwe tour, which not only led to Ganguly’s removal as captain, but he was also subsequently dropped from the squad.
Ganguly, who scored 11,363 runs in 311 ODIs, with 22 centuries to his name. He also scored 7,212 runs in 113 Tests at an average of 42.17, including 16 centuries. However, in 2005, he was dropped under coach Greg Chappell’s tenure. Despite his struggles with the bat at that time, Ganguly was still one of India’s most successful captains. As a leader, he had been delivering results, but his leadership was being questioned.
The controversy came to a head when an email from Greg Chappell to the BCCI was leaked, in which he criticized Ganguly’s captaincy and felt that he lacked leadership qualities. However, in the ongoing series, there have been no such reports regarding the relationship between Rohit Sharma and Gautam Gambhir. It later came to light that Sharma himself dropped out of the test match.
This incident marked the second time an Indian captain had been dropped. The first instance was in the 1958-59 series when Polly Umrigar was dropped from the Test team against the West Indies.
Who will captain India in the Sydney Test?
It is Jasprit Bumrah who is captaining India in the 5th Test. Bumrah already showed his mastery in the Perth Test, where he led the team to a big win, and that’s why we are seeing that there is still a lot to fight for. If India wins, they will end the series with a 2-2 scoreline and retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
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