LISA STHALEKAR: Rohit Sharma nearing the end of Test career as he fails to make impact against Australia

India face a tough decision heading into the fourth Test after escaping with a draw at the Gabba and it may need to be made by the skipper himself.

Rohit Sharma needs to decide if he will drop himself.

No one feels more pressure captaining their country than an Indian skipper.

It wasn’t that long ago that Indian fans lauded the success of Sharma when the Indian side won the T20 World Cup in Barbados in June.

After that match, Sharma and Virat Kohli both retired from T20 international cricket. What a way to finish, going out on top.

Very rarely do sport stars script their own retirement. Either it comes through injury or form slump, when the tap on the shoulder occurs to move on.

Cricket is quite unique, given that there are three formats played internationally.

Rarely do you see a player now retire from all three formats at the same time.

The amount of money involved in the game, their livelihood and identity has been woven together. Sometimes the fear of the unknown is enough for some players to continue.

Sharma had the fairytale ending in the T20 format and it has been speculated that he may do the exact same thing in the one-day format by bowing out after the Champions Trophy in February.

But he may not get the ending he wants or deserves in the Test arena.

Since September Sharma has only scored 152 runs in 13 innings with one solitary half-century.

And as captain he was humiliated in the shock whitewash series loss to New Zealand at home.

It hasn’t been a happy time for him. But what impressed me during that time was that he didn’t shy away from responsibility, personally taking the blame for the losses.

There was drama in the lead-up to the Border-Gavaskar Trophy about whether he would play in the first Test.

In the end Sharma decided to stay home for the birth of his second child.

Jasprit Bumrah led India to their famous win in Perth, which almost feels like a lifetime ago for the Indians.

When he did arrive, the pressure mounted on where he would bat after KL Rahul looked assured opening with Yashavi Jaiswal.

Putting the team first, Sharma slid down to number six, a position that he has batted before.

Unfortunately the move did not pay off as he scored 10, 3 and 6.

It has been the mode of dismissals and his body language after the last dismissal that has everyone wondering what is next for Sharma.

The Indian skipper hasn’t been the only player under pressure. Both sides are carrying superstars of the game in the twilight of their career.

There was plenty of speculation around Kohli, but the 100 in Perth seems to have bought him a few more games.

The same thing can be said for Steve Smith, but his gritty innings at the Gabba now has him placed behind only Ricky Ponting for the most hundreds by an Aussie cricketer.

Don’t get me wrong, Sharma is a legend of the game. You only have to look at his numbers across all three formats to see the impact he has had.

He averages 49.16 in one-day cricket, 32.05 in T20 internationals and 41 in Tests. Plus he is an exceptional leader.

I genuinely hate to see players dip in form like this especially when they are in their mid 30s, because everyone knows at some point you have to retire. The debate heightens when you don’t produce runs.

For me, retirement was an easier decision. I knew that everything was getting a little harder, training became a bit of a burden and I hated warm-ups.

Though find me a cricketer who loves warm-ups. Unlike the modern-day cricketer, there was no money in the game for me. I had a full-time job, something to fall back on, which isn’t the case for this generation.

Aged 34 I saw the next generation coming through and realised it was time to let them have a go. Alyssa Healy sat on the bench during my final tournament, the 2013 World Cup.

India has the next generation of stars coming through with Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill at the head of the queue.

I would love to see Sharma fight back hard in the final two Tests.

Legends in Indian cricket tend to write their own scripts. We saw that with Sachin Tendulkar, who probably stayed on a little longer seeking that one last score in front of his home crowd.

MS Dhoni slipped away mid-series back in Australia in 2014 with no fanfare.

I hope that Sharma finds the middle ground as the tap on the shoulder could be coming, but I will have my fingers crossed that he finds a little more in the tank to finish on his terms.

He deserves that.