“He’ll be opening the batting; I’ll bat somewhere in the middle.”
That was Rohit Sharma‘s short answer to the big question for India ahead of the pink-ball Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test in Adelaide, starting on Friday.
That means Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul will open, as they did with so much success in the first Test in Perth. Whether Rohit will bat at No. 3 or, more likely, No. 5, remains to be seen. Shubman Gill is coming into the game after missing the first one with an injury. What appears most likely, though, is: Jaiswal, Rahul, Gill, Virat Kohli, Rohit, Rishabh Pant, and then the allrounders and specialist bowlers.
There might have been no debate on the matter ordinarily, since Rohit has opened for India for a while now. But Rahul was pushed to the opening slot in Rohit’s absence – he was back home for the birth of his second child – for the Perth Test, and scored 26 and 77 against Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon. He faced 74 balls in the first innings and 176 in the second, batting for 404 minutes overall. Jaiswal scored a duck in the first innings, but then hit a memorable 161 in 297 balls, over 432 minutes in the second, the two of them putting up 201 runs together to set up India’s win.
Where will Rohit bat when he’s back, therefore, became the point of debate, with his recent form – 133 runs in his last ten Test innings with a best of 52 – suggesting India might be better off sticking with Rahul and Jaiswal at the top.
More to follow…
Source: ESPN Crickinfo