Rohit Sharma will not be available to lead India in the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, which begins on November 22 at Optus Stadium in Perth. ESPNcricinfo has learned that Rohit, who stayed home for the birth of his second child, will join the Indian squad ahead of the second Test, which is a day-night match starting on December 6 in Adelaide.
Although Rohit had communicated in advance to the BCCI and national selectors that he could
miss the Perth testhe kept open the option of last-minute travel based on the child’s birth date. Rohit and his wife Ritika welcomed their second child on Friday, a week before the first Test, hinting at the possibility of his trip to Perth. However, he told the BCCI that he will be available to play the two-day pink-ball warm-up game against the Australian Prime Minister’s XI from November 30 ahead of the day-night Test in Adelaide.
Vice-captain
Jasprit Bumrah is set to lead India in Perth in Rohit’s absence. Bumrah has led India in one Test previously, the fifth Test of their two-part 2021-22 England tour at Edgbaston, when Rohit tested positive for Covid-19.
India are now set to begin the Test series without two members of their top three, with third-placed Shubman Gill also
about to miss the Perth Test with a fractured thumb. KL Rahul and the unheralded Abhimanyu Easwaran were the two main candidates to debut alongside Yashasvi Jaiswal in Rohit’s absence, but now there is a chance for both of them to feature in the XI.
Rahul also suffered a brief injury, having left the field after taking a blow to his elbow while batting against Prasidh Krishna during the first day of the Indians’ intra-squad practice match at the WACA. These fears were assuaged on Sunday morning when
Rahul returned to the crease and beat for about an hour.
Apart from Abhimanyu and Rahul, India will have another high-profile prospect in Devdutt Padikkal, who was part of India A’s shadow tour of Australia and remained in the Test squad. Padikkal played one Test for India against England in Dharamsala earlier this year.
With four days to go until the first Test, the Indian think tank led by coach Gautam Gambhir has been challenged on multiple fronts. This is India’s first overseas Test series under Gambhir and his coaching team of Morne Morkel, Abhishek Nayar and Ryan ten Doeschate, and follows an unprecedented 3-0 defeat to New Zealand, the first whitewash of India in a home series of three or more Tests.
In the absence of Rohit and Gill, India could look to add to their batting depth by playing one of their two bowling all-rounders at No. 8. Nitish Kumar Reddy, a batting all-rounder from Andhra, and Harshit Rana, a batsman and bowling all-rounder from Delhi, are yet to make their Test debut.
After training at the WACA this week, India will shift to the Optus Stadium from Tuesday.
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