Gautam Gambhir has flown back to Australia and has rejoined the Indian team ahead of the second Test in Adelaide. The India head coach had travelled back to India due to ‘personal reasons’.
He left the team after the end of the first Test in Perth and flew back to India. He subsequently missed India’s pink-ball warm-up encounter against Prime Minister’s XI in Canberra. That game was supposed to be a two-day fixture before rain forced the two teams to play out a 50-overs-a-side game.
Gambhir had informed the Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI) about his decision to fly in and out of Australia in between the first and second Test. That was accepted by the BCCI.
“Gambhir has informed us that he will be travelling back home and will join the team before the start of the second Test. He has cited personal reasons and the BCCI has accepted his request,” a BCCI source had said.
In the absence of Gambhir, it was the remaining support staff (Abhishek Nayar, Ryan ten Doeschate, Morne Morkel and T Dilip) who took charge along with captain Rohit Sharma during the practice game in Canberra. Harshit Rana took 4/44 before Yashasvi Jaiswal, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Washington Sundar got 40s. Meanwhile, Shubman Gill returned from injury and top-scored with 50 to help India win by six wickets.
Conundrum over India’s batting line-up
India were superb in the first Test in Perth. After being bowled out for 150 in the first innings, they responded beautifully with the ball and shot Australia out for 104. In the second dig, the batters batted magnificently and racked up 487/6 before they declared. The opening partnership of KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal amassed 201 runs in the second innings.
Thus, with the Jaiswal-Rahul duo doing exceedingly well at the top, it’ll be interesting to see if India persist with the same opening combination. Rohit Sharma who missed the first Test due to the birth of his second child is back to lead the side. He has been opening the batting in the longest format for more than five years now. Meanwhile, Shubman Gill has cemented his place at No. 3 in the last year and a half.
In the pink-ball practice game against Prime Minister’s XI, Rohit batted at No. 4 with Rahul, Jaiswal and Gill batting in the top three.
