Veteran commentator Sanjay Manjrekar applauded Team India captain Rohit Sharma for volunteering to give up his opening position for wicketkeeper-batter KL Rahul in the second Test of the five-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) against Australia as well. However, Rohit missed the opening match in Perth due to paternity leave as well. In his absence, Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal formed a 201-run partnership for the first wicket in India’s second innings.

He told ESPNcricinfo: “This call was very important, with the kind of confidence the two openers have. Although this is going to be a different challenge. Now the challenge for KL Rahul is to carry his form. He gave us a lot of promise. Both Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul are looking good. It is almost imperative that KL Rahul carries his form after the last Test.”

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“He is a guy who has won people’s hearts by just being a good leader who puts the team first, the way he batted in the 2023 World Cup as well. So, this was, we suggested it and we all thought it was possible that this would happen, more so because Rohit Sharma was the captain who would always put the team first and him later. It makes a lot of cricketing sense and again shows how Rohit Sharma is a little different from some of the other captains that we have seen,” he shared.

Rohit Sharma also applauded KL Rahul’s batting exploits in the Perth Test. The right-handed batter also registered scores of 26 and 77 in the first Test. At the pre-match press conference ahead of the Adelaide Test, Rohit Sharma also emphasized that Rahul deserves to bat at the top of the older after his stunning knock.

“The way KL batted, I was watching from home with a newborn baby in my arms. He played brilliantly, so there is no need to change now; things might be different in the future—the way KL bats overseas, so he deserves that spot at this point in time,” he shared.