In a major boost to the Indian camp, Rohit Sharma will reportedly arrive in Perth for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy during the first Test match in Perth. The Indian captain will not be part of the Perth Test match starting on Friday morning after the birth of his second child on November 15.
According to a report from Cricbuzz, the veteran opener will arrive in Perth on Sunday, November 24. Rohit has already informed the BCCI and team management about his decision on potentially missing the series opener but will be available for the second Test match in Adelaide starting on December 6.
The BCCI hasn't officially confirmed Rohit's absence for the first Test match but Jasprit Bumrah donned the captain's blazer for an official photoshoot with the BGT trophy on Thursday morning at Optus Stadium to all but confirm the news.
Bumrah has previously captained India in one Test match against England at Edgbaston in July 2022 where the Three Lions emerged winners. India will also enter the Perth Test without the designated batter Shubman Gill who injured his left thumb while fielding during the training simulation game.
However, the BCCI drafted the young batter Devdutt Padikkal into India's squad for the first Test on Thursday to provide some cover to the batting unit. The uncapped Bengal batter Abhimanyu Easwaran is expected to open an innings with Yashasvi Jaiswal and the experienced KL Rahul is tipped to take Gill's No.3 position in India's playing eleven for the Perth Test.
India’s squad for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy:
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, Devdutt Padikkal.
Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed.
