Former Indian cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu slammed the handling of Rohit Sharma's captaincy predicament on Friday, calling it 'bizarre' and asserting that a captain should 'never be ousted midstream'. Rohit Sharma opted out of the ongoing BGT 2024 Sydney Test, with Jasprit Bumrah captaining in his absence.

Rohit Sharma, the Indian captain, saw a substantial decrease in performance in 2024, marking a troubling period in his 11-year Test career. His troubles against both fast and spin bowling, independent of playing circumstances, as well as his failure to capitalize on good starts, exposed basic flaws in his Test cricket technique.

2024 proved to be a challenging year for Rohit, with statistics showing a mere 619 runs from 14 Test matches at an average of 24.76. His century count stood at two, accompanied by two half-centuries in this duration.

Following his century against England at Dharamsala in March 2024, Rohit's form declined further, with only 154 runs in 15 innings, one fifty, and an average of 10.26.

Rohit's lackluster performances in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, where India is currently trailing 1-2, particularly against a powerful Australian side, sparked speculation regarding his future in the national team.

As Rohit Sharma opted out of the Sydney Test, former India cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu stated that no captain should be dropped or given the choice of opting out in the middle of a series. He gave examples of captains like Mark Taylor and Mohammed Azharuddin being persisted with despite being in poor form.

He wrote: "A Captain should never be dropped midstream nor given the option to opt-out… sends wrong signals... Have seen Captains like Mark Taylor, Azharuddin etc persisted as captain for a year despite bad form... @ImRo45 deserved more respect and faith from the management... Bizarre coz it happened for the first time in Indian cricket history... Blunder - for a fallen lighthouse is more dangerous than a reef!"