Indian head coach Gautam Gambhir declined to confirm that Rohit Sharma would play in the fifth test against Australia and said that the playing 11 will be confirmed before the toss on Friday.
Rohit Sharma has been struggling for runs in the last three tests of the Border Gavaskar Trophy where Australia secured a 2-1 lead after the visitors’ 184-run loss at Melbourne.
While asked why the coach was taking part in the pre-match conference rather than the captain, Gambhir said, “Everything is fine with Rohit and I don’t think it’s anything traditional.”
“The head coach is here, that should be fine, that should be good enough. We’re going to have a look at the wicket and finalise (our team) tomorrow.”
While asked specifically whether Rohit will be in the team, Gambhir declined to confirm. “As I just said, we’re going to have a look at the wicket and probably announce the playing XI tomorrow. So the answer remains the same.”
Gambhir also confirmed that Akash Deep will be missing the match with a back issue and also spoke about dressing room leaks after the loss in Melbourne.
“Those are just reports,” he said. “That’s not the truth, and I don’t think I need to answer to any reports.
“There were some honest words, that’s all I can say. Honesty is extremely important if you want to probably go on to do great things.”
Gambhir spoke about the honesty within the dressing room but said no specific discussio had been held with Rohit and Predecessor as captain Virat kohli about their roles in the future of the Indian team.
“The only conversation was how we can win the next test match,” he said. “No other conversation has taken place, because we know how important this test is.”
