Rohit Sharma’s energy and brainwork are no longer what they used to be.

Indian captain Rohit Sharma was away on paternity leave and thus missed the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. He was on a flight during the first Test at Perth. He would later recall asking the airlines for an internet connection to check the score. It was perhaps the only time during the series when the match scorecard and situation would have pleased him. India were truly in command of the game then.

Just like Kohli and Gambhir, Rohit was thrust into an emotionally challenging hour in Australia. In the 2011-12 series, while Gambhir felt he could be the next captain, Kohli had already made his mark and MS Dhoni was looking for a regular place for Rohit in the one-day limited-overs leg of the series. Maybe, some extra pressure, not deliberately of course maybe, was applied upon Rohit by the public support of the captain. As that team wanted a dislodged way into get Rohit in, here came Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and…. Gambhir.

When Rohit didn’t perform in the first two matches of that three-nation tournament, Dhoni would speak to the situation: “We will look to give someone else a chance (in the third game at Adelaide also). I would want Rohit to play as many matches as possible. It keeps him prepared. We can afford to give him chances in the first leg of the tournament. Dhoni continued that three senior players were costing the team an extra 20 runs. There was an element of Rohit turning out to be the fall guy in that series.

And how things pan out in a little over a decade. Rohit opted to drop himself to get a younger man in for the Sydney Test and while Jasprit Bumrah termed it a “selfless” act, in certain sections, that has been viewed as fleeing responsibility.It did look like he seemed to have visibly relaxed once he made the call not to play in Sydney. On match eve, he was joking with Bumrah outside the dressing room after training had ended, going on laughing spasms for some time like a kid.