India head coach Gautam Gambhir is hoping that captain Rohit Sharma will be available for the first Test against Australia in Perth, though he is happy with the options he has in case Rohit doesn’t make it.
“At the moment, there is no confirmation but we will let you know exactly what the situation will be. Hopefully he’s going to be available, but everything we’re going to get to know at the start of the series,” Gambhir said at a press-conference before the team’s departure to Australia.
As reported earlier, Rohit is a doubt for the first Test owing 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 isn’t there. “Obviously there is [Abhimanyu] Easwaran and there is [KL [Rahul] there. So we will take a call closer to the first Test match if Rohit is not available,” Gambhir said. “There are options there, it’s not that there are no options there. There are quite a few options in the squad.
“Once it gets closer to the first Test match, we’ll plan and play the best playing XI that’s going to do the job for us.” Shubman Gill is another option available in the squad.
Rahul and Abhimanyu opened for India A in the second four-day match against Australia A, but both returned low scores. Abhimanyu, who also played the first game of that series, returned scores of 7, 12, 0 and 17 across the two games, while Rahul made 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 [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 squad will leave later today.