India head coach Gautam Gambhir expects captain Rohit Sharma to be available for the first Test against Australia in Perth, although he is happy with the options he has in case Rohit fails to make it.
“At the moment, there is no confirmation, but we will tell you exactly what the situation will be. Hopefully he will be available, but we will know everything at the beginning of the series,” Gambhir said at a press conference before the team’s departure to Australia.
As reported earlier, Rohit is doubtful for the first Test due to personal reasons but there is no clarity on his status. Which raises two questions. The first, who will open alongside Yashasvi Jaiswal if Rohit is not there. “Obviously there are [Abhimanyu] Easwaran and there [KL [Rahul] there. So we will get a call closer to the first Test match if Rohit is not available,” Gambhir said. “There are options there, not that there are no options there. There are quite a few options in the template.
“Once the first Test match approaches, we will plan and play with the best XI that will do the job for us.” Shubman Gill is another option available in the team.
Rahul and Abhimanyu opened for India A in the second four-day match against Australia A, but both posted low scores. Abhimanyu, who also played the first game of that series, posted scores of 7, 12, 0 and 17 in the two games, while Rahul scored 4 and 10 in the two innings in his only game.
The second question has to do with captaincy. Gambhir kept it simple: “[Jasprit] Bumrah is the vice-captain, so obviously he will do it. [be the captain] if Rohit is not available.”
The Perth test will begin on November 22.
A group of five players (Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Gill, Washington Sundar and Jaiswal) have already left for Australia, while the rest of the team will leave later today.
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