India's head coach Gautam Gambhir turning up for media duties - and not Rohit Sharma - on the eve of the fifth Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test in Sydney piqued intrigue. Gambhir however, played down any theories pertaining to that but was non-committal on Rohit's inclusion for the fifth and final Test of the tour in Sydney.

Rohit has endured a torrid time in the longest format since October 2023. Heading into the Boxing Day Test, the India captain carried an average of 11.69 from seven previous outings. His fortunes plummeted further as he got scores of 3 and 9 at the MCG. Rohit has scored just 31 runs in six innings in the ongoing tour. There have been exploitable flaws in his batting - like his dwindling returns against pace, and