Having begun their Border-Gavaskar Trophy retention bid without their captain, India might also finish it with no Rohit Sharma after coach Gautam Gambhir refused to guarantee his spot for the SCG Test. 

Amid reports Gambhir gave his players a dressing down following their final-hour defeat to Australia at the MCG, the combative former opener’s first press conference in almost two months on tour was a similarly stern affair. 

With his side down 2-1 in the series but the lure of extending their hold on the BGT Trophy to a full decade still in the offing if they win in Sydney, the 43-year-old did not offer any assurance Rohit would feature after standing in for him at Thursday’s pre-Test press conference. 

“Everything is fine with Rohit,” Gambhir told reporters. “I don’t think it’s anything traditional (that a captain must speak to the media the day before a Test). If the coach is there, that should be fine, that should be good enough. We will have a look at the wicket and finalise it tomorrow.”

Pressed specifically on Rohit’s involvement in the Test, he said: “The answer remains the same.” Gambhir did reveal seamer Akash Deep would miss the final Test with a back issue. 

Rohit, who has failed to pass 10 in five innings after missing India’s series-opening win in Perth due to the birth of his second child, did little to dissuade the feeling the captaincy reins could be handed back to Jasprit Bumrah this week. 

Shubman Gill, axed in Melbourne, is in the mix to return.

Gambhir and Bumrah had a lengthy conversation after the visitors arrived at the SCG on Thursday as the pair walked to the middle to inspect the pitch. Rohit and bowling coach Morne Morkel then joined them.

India completed their slips catching practice without Rohit – Virat Kohli moved to first slip for the drills, KL Rahul to second, Nitish Kumar Reddy to third – while the veteran opener was not part of their main batting group in the practice nets. 

Rohit said after the defeat in Melbourne his performances were not up to scratch and there were elements of his game he needed to work on. 

But, when he did eventually pull the pads on at India’s only training sessions between the fourth and fifth Tests, he batted for around 15 minutes and only faced throwdowns.

As the main group of batters including misfiring senior pair Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant all had extended hits, the 37-year-old instead lurked around the back of the practice nets talking to Gambhir, Bumrah and others.

It came after Gambhir denied an Indian Express report that he had scolded his charges for not adjusting their approach to the match situation at the MCG.  

But the theme of his message on Thursday was ultimately along similar lines.

“Those are just reports. That’s not the truth. I don’t think I need to answer to any reports,” said Gambhir, a famously aggressive opening batter who in 2009 batted almost 11 hours to save a Test match against New Zealand in Napier.  

“There were some honest words, that’s all I can say, and honesty is very important. Honesty is extremely important if you want to go on and achieve some great things.

“There is only one discussion – it’s the team-first ideology that matters. It’s a team sport, and you’ve got to play what the team needs you to do. People can play their natural game, but still, in a team sport, individuals only contribute.

“You have to expect players to do what the team needs you to do, whether they have to bat sessions, whether they have got to be attacking. Because that is all that matters in a team sport for me.”

Gambhir stepped away from a promising career in politics as the MP for East Delhi as part of India’s ruling party, the BJP, only months before being appointed into his current role despite having no previous head coaching experience.

His political background was apparent on Thursday as he described how the changes in India’s flagship cricket team mirrored those being seen in his country as a whole.

“Indian cricket will always be in safe hands till the time you (don’t) have honest people sitting in that room,” said Gambhir.

“Honesty is the most important thing for any transition. It is not about phasing out senior players or getting the youngsters in. Ultimately, the only thing that can keep you in that dressing room is performance. 

“(With) the kind of talent there is in Indian cricket, I think we will always be in safe hands. 

“Yes, there’ll be times when we might not get the results. There’ll be times where we will have to be patient. 

“Rather than only criticising the young players, I think we got to give them time to develop as well. They’ll end up becoming world-class players as well. 

“That is what is important, and it is the role of not only the support staff, but you people (the media) as well, how you can not only criticise them, but try and help them out as well. 

“Transition is not only for us. Transition happens for the entire country, and all of us are in it together.”

NRMA Insurance Men’s Test Series v India

First Test: India won by 295 runs

Second Test: Australia won by 10 wickets

Third Test: Match drawn

Fourth Test: Australia won by 184 runs

Fifth Test: January 3-7: SCG, Sydney, 10.30am AEDT

Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Sean Abbott, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Travis Head (vc), Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Jhye Richardson, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster

India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Devdutt Padikkal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar. Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed, Yash Dayal