Indian head coach Gautam Gambhir revealed that the team might pick one of KL Rahul and Abhimanyu Easwaran as a replacement for Rohit Sharma if he skips the first test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy.
While speaking to the media for the first time after India’s 0-3 defeat against New Zealand at home, there are no confirmations on Rohit’s availability for the Perth game, and rather expects the Indian captain to lead the side in Australia from the opening test onwards.
“There is no confirmation. We’ll let you know. Hopefully he’ll be available. Everything you’ll get to know by the start of the series,” he told reporters.
If Rohit is unavailable for the opening game, KL Rahul and Easwaran as his replacement for the first test.
“Obviously there is [Abhimanyu] Easwaran there, there is KL [Rahul] there,” he pointed out. “So we will take a call closer to the first Test match if Rohit is not available.”
“There are options there. It’s not that there are no options, there are quite a lot of options in the squad. So once it gets closer to the first Test match, we’ll try and play the best playing XI who is going to do the job for us.”
KL Rahul had a drop in form recently and scored only 0 and 12 in the first test against New Zealand in Bengaluru before being ignored for the remainder of the series.
“KL Rahul can bat in the top order, he can bat at No. 3, he can play at No. 6. So you need quite a lot of talent to do all these jobs, and he has kept (wickets) in ODIs. Imagine how many countries have players like KL, who can open, can bat at No. 6 as well,” the coach said.
“If needed, he can do the job for us, especially if Rohit is not available for the first Test match…” added Gautam Gambhir.
Despite being under Pressure, Gambhir moves on from the series defeat. “We are not even looking at what’s going to happen in the World Test Championships or whether we are going to qualify or not. Every series is important when you play for your country. For us, it’s about two good teams taking on each other and we want to go out and give our best,” he said.
The five-match test series will kickstart on November 22 while the second test will be played on a day-night format under the stadium lights starting on December 06.
The third test will be played in the Gabba which will be held between December 14-18. The fourth test will be played between December 26-30 at Melbourne Cricket Ground.
The fifth and final test at the Sydney Cricket Ground from January 3-7 will give a promising dramatic conclusion for the exciting contest.
