India must start planning for Rohit Sharma's successor if he does not play well in their five-Test series in Australia as the captain could well retire from the longest format, former skipper Krishnamachari Srikkanth has said.
Rohit retired from Twenty20 Internationals after delivering India's second World Cup trophy in June but the 37-year-old has struggled for form and admitted to his leadership lapses in the recent 3-0 home Test whitewash by New Zealand.
India head to Australia needing to win four out of their five Tests to reach a third successive World Test Championship final next year and could be without Rohit for the opener in Perth starting on November 22 for personal reasons.
"You have to start thinking ahead. If Rohit Sharma doesn't do well, I think he himself will retire from Test cricket, for all you know," Srikkanth said on his YouTube channel.
"He'll play ODIs only. He has already left T20I cricket. We have to keep in mind that he's also ageing."
Rohit has scored 4,270 runs in Test cricket at an average of 42.27, but his recent form has come under the microscope. He has made only one half-century in his last 10 innings, with six single-digit scores, and was guilty of playing reckless shots at important moments against the Black Caps,
Srikkanth, also a former chief selector, said the skipper was right to accept his shortcomings in a press conference."Hats off to Rohit for accepting the fact that he played badly throughout the series and captained badly. That's a great thing," Srikkanth added."That's the first move of a player to get back to rhythm. Accepting your fault is very important. That's a very important quality of a human being.
"He accepted it openly. That means he's on the road to recovery, that's my opinion."