Ricky Ponting on Rohit Sharma’s absence: I was very surprised when I heard the term ”opting out”

Ricky Ponting on Rohit Sharma’s absence: I was very surprised when I heard the term ”opting out”

Australian batting great Ricky Ponting on Friday said he was “surprised” by Rohit Sharma’s absence from the fifth and final Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

India will aim to win the Sydney Test to level the series and retain the trophy. Jasprit Bumrah, who walked out for the toss, said Rohit had “opted to rest.”

“I think the reaction has been that they all sort of expected that it might happen,” Ponting told The ICC Review.

“The chat’s been for the last couple of days that everyone expected that Rohit would not play this game, that Shubman Gill would come back in and that (Jasprit) Bumrah would probably take over the captaincy again and that’s the way it’s turned out.”

Given the circumstances, the former Australian captain felt it would take something special for Rohit to make another appearance in whites.

“I was very surprised when I heard the term ‘opting out’ coming into such an important game,” Ponting said.

“We know he’s been a great stalwart for Indian cricket over a long period of time. So the way that they’ve actually worded it, you can only take it on face value.

“We’ve got to believe what we’re hearing coming out of the Indian camp, but being such a big game, knowing that they have to win this one to retain the trophy, it was an interesting time for one of their more experienced players to opt-out.”

(With inputs from PTI)