Time is running out quickly for both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli after another failure during the second innings of the fourth Test between India and Australia in Melbourne. (Day 5 Blog | Full Coverage | More Cricket News)
With the sword hanging over their career in the format, both the senior batters played poor s𝔉hots to get dismissed in a game that India could have drawn but lost by 184 ജruns.
India face an uphill 🌜task of retꦦaining the Border-Gavaskar Trophy with a win in the fifth and final Test in Sydney but an even tougher task stares two of India's most accomplished batters. That is saving their Test careers.
Kohli, 36, and Rohit, 38, are at the fag end of their international careers and have already retired from T20I post the 2024 World Cup triumph. But their poor records in recent times have led to fans and experts being largely in consensus with the view that the duo should move on from Test cricket as well.
Check out how the recent Test numbers stack up against Virat and Rohit, two 𒈔of India'sꦍ greatest modern cricketers.
Rohit Sharma
Captains are supposed to lead from the front. However, Rohit on this tour has been a laggard in terms of run scoring. In fact, he has just two more runs in the series𓃲 than R Ashwin who just p♒layed one Test before hanging up his boots.
With 31 runs in five innings and an abysmal average of 6.20, Rohit is having arguably the worst tour to Australia by any Indian specialist batter ever. He is looking totally out of sorts while batting and even as the captain he has been found lacking in this seri𝔍es.
His batting returns have seen a consistent fall in recent years. In 2024 in Tests, Rohit averages just 24.8 across 26 inn⭕ings. In last three years, he is averaging 30.6 after having played 42 innings. 🎶In his last 15 Test innings, he has just crossed 25 once. Numbers do not paint a pretty picture for the India captain.
Virat Kohli
There was a🐲 time when Kohli used to compete for a place in India's all-time Test playing XI. However, those times are long gone. A long run of poor form has seen Kohli become the least fabulous of the Fab 4 batters of this era.
In last five years in Test cricket, the former India captain has averaged less than 30 every year except 2023. In the same time frame, his average is 31.3 in 67 innings. This is almost one-third of his career. Thus, it is safe to say that Kohli has been given the longest of ropes but 💖he has not been able to come out of his bad form.
In Australia, his persistence with poking at deliveries just outside the off-stump has led to a lot of anger on social media. Since his ton in Perth, Koh📖li too has been failing just like Rohit on this tour. He seems like a pale of shadow of the batter who scored a ton in Australia on his debutꦇ tour and then racked up four centuries in four Tests during the 2014-15 tour.
With India's next Test series in England in mid 2025, the fꦿuture looks uncertain for both Rohit and Virat.
