News Sports Cricket Rohit Sharma almost confirms under-fire batter's place in playing XI for first Test vs Bangladesh

Rohit Sharma almost confirms under-fire batter's place in playing XI for first Test vs Bangladesh

India skipper Rohit Sharma addressed the media ahead of the first Test of the two-match series against Bangladesh. He opened up on the competition for places in the Indian team and also spoke about the upcoming youngsters like Dhruv Jurel and Yashasvi Jaiswal among others

Rohit Sharma, IND vs BAN, KL Rahul Image Source : APRohit Sharma

India skipper Rohit Sharma has thrown his weight behind under-fire batter KL Rahul to come good in the upcoming Test series against Bangladesh. The latter has lost his place in the team in T20Is and didn't return with good numbers in the ODI series against Sri Lanka either. With Rishabh Pant returning and Sarfaraz Khan performing well in the England series, his place was under threat in the longest format of the game.

Moreover, Rahul missed four Tests against England at home earlier this year (after featuring in the first Test) due to injury and Rohit pointed out that he had done well by then. The 37-year-old also backed Rahul to come good in Tests in the near future. "We all know the quality of Rahul, he has got the talent - it's important we give a clear message - since he came back, he scored a Hundred in South Africa, 80+ in Hyderabad then, unfortunately, got injured. KL Rahul has the game to do well in Test Cricket.

"I'm sure he can flourish and I see no reason he can't be successful in Test Cricket," Rohit said. The India captain was also asked about being relaxed in the bilateral series having finally broken the jinx of the ICC trophy earlier this year winning the T20 World Cup. However, Rohit made it clear that things won't work that way as every series is important for the players.

"Every series is important, there is no way in my mind, you have won one Trophy so we can relax but that is not our way - we need to win all the series that we play," Rohit added.