In a major development, the Gautam Gambhir-led coaching staff appears to have replaced Rohit Sharma as the Test team’s opener.
Indian national cricket team captain Rohit Sharma was not listed as an opener in the pink ball tour match against the Australian Prime Minister’s XI, which is currently taking place at the Manuka Oval in Canberra on Sunday December 1st.
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Did Gautam Gambhir remove Rohit Sharma as opener? The Indian captain is listed as number 5 in the match against the Prime Minister’s XI
The first day of the two-day pink ball match between the teams was canceled due to rain, and the match rules were changed before the start of Day 2. The match became a 50-over-a-side match. shock.
On Day 2, Indian national cricket team captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and opted to bowl first in the one-day match. Rohit Sharma was not named in the team as an opener as the top spots were given to Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul.
The Indian captain was listed at number 5, which is a position where Rishabh Pant usually bats. Rohit has batted in various positions in Test cricket, from the opening slot to number 6. However, in recent years he has played as an opener and has done a great job for India.
Teams for the India-Prime Minister XI clash:
India (Batting XI, Fielding XI): Rohit Sharma (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (w), KL Rahul, Dhruv Jurel, Nitish Reddy, Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Harshit Rana, Sarfaraz Khan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Devdutt Padikkal.
Prime Minister’s XI (Batting XI, Fielding XI): Jack Edwards (c), Matt Renshaw, Jack Clayton, Oliver Davies, Jayden Goodwin, Sam Harper (w), Charlie Anderson, Sam Konstas, Scott Boland, Lloyd Pope, Hanno Jacobs, Mahli Beardman, Aidan O’Connor, Jem Ryan, Jack Nisbet
I don’t want to decode too much in this warm-up match against PM XI, but Rohit Sharma listed at number 5 is quite interesting. #BGT pic.twitter.com/NhbJwR5VEL
-Subhayan Chakraborty (@CricSubhayan) December 1, 2024
KL Rahul put in a brilliant performance in the absence of Rohit Sharma
Rohit Sharma had skipped the first match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 against the Australian national cricket team due to family commitments. He and his wife were blessed with a baby recently, and the Indian captain decided to stay with his family for a while before traveling to Australia for the series.
Jasprit Bumrah, the designated vice-captain, led the team in the first Test. In the absence of Rohit and Shubman Gill, who was ruled out of the Perth Test due to a thumb injury, the Indian team management gave the top spot to KL Rahul and the No. 3 spot to Devdutt Padikkal.
Padikkal didn’t look very comfortable against the Australian bowlers but Rahul looked a class apart. KL Rahul batted exceptionally well against the new ball and was fantastic in both the innings.
The 32-year-old scored 26 runs off 74 balls in the first innings before being controversially dropped. Furthermore, in the second innings, he scored 77 runs off 176 balls and was involved in a sensational opening partnership of 201 runs with Yashasvi Jaiswal.