India captain Rohit Sharma confirmed on the eve of the second Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy that he would bat in the middle-order. Rohit, addressing the media in Adelaide on Thursday, has said that KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal will open the batting for India in the pink-ball Test.
“Yeah, he will be opening the batting. I will bat somewhere in the middle,” Rohit said.
However, it is a brave call from the Indian captain Rohit Sharma, who is all set to sacrifice his preferred spot to KL Rahul after he stepped up in India’s 295-run win in Perth. In Rohit’s absence, Yashasvi and Rahul opened the batting and added a defining 201-run partnership in the second innings at the Optus Stadium as well.
ALSO READ: Hardik Pandya shares happiness after winning back the love of fans
Notably, Rohit Sharma has since opened in 42 Tests, scoring close to 3000 runs at an average of 44 with 9 hundreds as well. He also explained his decision in more detail, stating that he was thrilled to watch Rahul and Jaiswal dominate the Australian attack in Perth. However, Rohit missed the first Test to be with his family during the birth of their second child and rejoined the team in Perth and began training with the pink ball during the first Test as well.
“And how I came to the decision of batting down the order is clearly we want results, we want success, and those two guys at the top… just looking at this one Test match, they batted brilliantly,” Rohit said. “I was at home with my newborn in my arms, and I was watching how KL batted. It was brilliant to watch. I felt that there’s no need to change that now. Maybe in the future, things will be different. I don’t know.”
ALSO READ: “Shubman’s captaincy is very good” – Ravi Bishnoi on Shubman Gill
“So based on what has happened and what KL Rahul has shown outside of India, he probably deserves that place at this point in time. It is something that has brought us success in the first Test. You have that one big partnership with Jaiswal on the other side, and you know, it probably won us the Test match. When you come here, in a place like Perth, and you get 500 runs or so, it’s such a massive tick in the box,” he again shared.
“So I don’t see why we need to change that. What I saw from the outside looked brilliant, and there was no need to change anything. It was actually pretty simple for me. Personally, not easy. But for the team, it made a lot of sense,” Rohit Sharma concluded.
