Rohit Sharma is reportedly set to miss the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 opening match. In his absence, vice-captain Jasprit Bumrah will take the captain’s armband for the Perth Test starting on November 22.
According to a report from ESPNCricinfo, the star Indian batter will not travel to Australia for the first Test of the five-match series due to the birth of his second child. Rohit will join the team for the second match in Adelaide starting on December 6.
Rohit and his wife Ritika Sajdeh gave birth to their second child on November 15. Rohit had reportedly informed the BCCI and the team management about his potential unavailability for the series opener and did not travel with the Indian team for the five-match series.
The Indian team was already sweating on Shubman Gill‘s fitness for the first Test after the youngster suffered a thumb fracture on Saturday and now Rohit’s absence adds more worry. Gill is unlikely to recover for the Perth game and is likely to be replaced by KL Rahul.
Uncapped Abhimanyu Easwaran might open with Yashasvi Jaiswal in the opening game. After a sensational run in domestic cricket this year, Easwaran struggled to make an impact in the recent India A tour of Australia but with Rohit and Shubman out of the team, the Bengal batter will get his long-awaited Test debut on November 22.
Meanwhile, the batting all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy and the backup wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel can also offer batting options for the first Test. Earlier on Sunday, India A batter Devdutt Padikkal has also been asked to stay back in Australia as India stretched thin with batting options for the all-important series.
Team India squad for Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25
Rohit Sharma (C), Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant (WK), Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar.
Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed.