text: Lehmann's position was again called into question on the 2004 tour to India when Michael Clarke had an opportunity to debut in Bangalore on the 2004 India tour, when Ricky Ponting broke his thumb, and Clarke scored 151 in his first innings in Test matches. When Ponting returned, the Australian selectors were obliged to select Clarke, meaning that they had to drop Lehmann or Katich. Lehmann publicly offered to be dropped following a run of poor form, but the selectors did not take the offer, and the younger Katich was instead dropped. Lehmann stayed on briefly, but after two ungainly dismissals to Pakistani paceman Shoaib Akhtar in the first Two Tests of the 2004/05 series, in which Lehmann was out of position after wandering across the crease, he was dropped in favour of Shane Watson for the Sydney Test. Another maligned shot selection in the following ODI series, attempting to reverse sweep Shahid Afridi first ball, resulted in his dismissal from the ODI team, with Katich again promoted. Lehmann was unable to reclaim a spot as Australia headed towards the 2005 Ashes series looking for batsmen to combat an England team fielding four pace bowlers, including three at the high speed of , and he was never again on the Cricket Australia's contracted players list. In November 2007, he announced his retirement, stating that "Physically and mentally I've had enough".
  He published his autobiography, Worth the Wait, in 2004.