Rohit had been in the midst of a barren run of form with the bat and on the field as captain. In the three Tests he played in this series, he scored 31 runs in five innings, and has a record of five losses and one draw in his last six fixtures as skipper.

After two days of speculation and report on whether Rohit would make the playing XI or not for the Sydney Test, the opener's absence was finally confirmed when Bumrah walked out for the toss on the first morning.

India won the toss and opted to bat first, making two changes. Seamer Akash Deep has been replaced by Prasidh Krishna following a back injury, while Shubman Gill is back into the XI in place of Rohit Sharma.

Interestingly, Bumrah mentioned that Rohit has "opted to rest" and not that he has been dropped or replaced.

"Our captain has shown leadership by opting to rest in this game. That shows there's a lot of unity in this team. There's no selfishness. Whatever is in the team's best interest, we are looking to do that," Bumrah said at the toss.

Bumrah had also led India in the first Test of the series in Perth, the only game India have won in this series.

With India's next Test assignment being in June - a five-Test series against England in England, or the World Test Championship final should they qualify - it's unclear whether this is the end of the road for Rohit in the longest format.

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