Team India Head Coach Gautam Gambhir on Monday, November 11 shared a big update on skipper Rohit Sharma’s participation in the first Test of the five-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25. Speaking at the pre-departure press conference, Gambhir also added that Jasprit Bumrah will lead the side in absence of Rohit in Perth, starting November 22.
It is to be noted that Rohit Sharma is expecting his second child with wife Ritika Sajdeh. However, the couple have refrained from opening up about the same, former Indian cricketer Abhinav Mukund earlier confirmed this update. Speaking after the 0-3 drubbing against New Zealand at home, Team India skipper had stated that he is “not sure” of his availability in the first Test.
Jasprit Bumrah likely to lead India in first Test against Australia in BGT 2024-25
Speaking at the press conference ahead of the departure of the second batch, Gautam Gambhir stated, “Look, at the moment, there is no confirmation. We’ll let you guys know what the situation is. Hopefully, he is going to be available. But everything you will get to know at the start of the series.”
The former India cricketer also added that the management is keeping their back-up plans ready as they have Abhimanyu Easwaran and KL Rahul to open in absence of Rohit Sharma. “Obviously, there is Easwaran, there is KL Rahul. We will take a call ahead of the 1st Test if Rohit is unavailable. There are options there. It’s not like there are no options. Once we get closer to the 1st Test, we will try and put in the best playing XI,” Gambhir added.
“You go with experienced players as well. I think that is the quality of a man that he can actually bat at the top of the order. You can bat at number three, and he can actually bat in sixth position as well. So you need quite a lot of talent to be doing these kinds of jobs as well, and he kept pickets in a one-day format as well,” Gambhir further added.
India’s 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), R Ashwin, R Jadeja, Mohd. Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar.
Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed