Indian cricket team captain Rohit Sharma confirmed that he will be batting in the middle order while KL Rahul will open the batting in the second Test match against Australia in Adelaide starting Friday. Rohit missed the first Test match in Perth as he decided to stay with his family following the birth of his second child. However, with the India captain joining the squad, several fans as well as experts thought that Rahul will no longer be opening the batting despite scoring a gritty 77 in Perth. However, Rohit ended all speculations in the pre-match press conference and made it clear that he will not play as an opener..
“KL will open the innings and I will play somewhere in the middle. Not easy for me but it’s the best for the team,” Rohit told reporters on the eve of the second Test.
Meanwhile, Australia skipper Pat Cummins on Thursday put an end to the disharmony rumours in his side and said that there’s a great feeling around the team.
The notion of divide within the Australia camp began when seasoned pacer Josh Hazlewood, on Day 3 of the Perth Test, said, “You probably have to ask one of the batters that question. I’m sort of relaxing and trying to get a bit of physio and a bit of treatment, and I’m probably looking mostly towards the next Test and what plans we can do against these batters.”
Speaking at the pre-match press conference, Cummins said that the team is looking great and some of the commentators got that 100 per cent wrong. He added that the team don’t make too much of these rumours.
“Yeah, look team’s great. Some of the commentators got that 100 per cent wrong. So, the team’s great, we have prepared like we always do, and get around each other. It’s a great feeling around the team. So yeah, we don’t make too much of it,” Cummins said.
After hearing Hazlewood’s comment, former Australia star Adam Gilchrist gave his take during Fox Sports coverage and said, “That to me tells me there is potentially a divided change room I don’t know if there is. I might be reading too much into that.”
In the first Test match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, India staged a stunning comeback from a series whitewash against New Zealand at home, defeating Australia by 295 runs in Perth despite being bowled out for a mere 150 runs in their first innings.
The day-night Adelaide Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy will be starting from December 6.
Earlier on Thursday, Australia named the playing eleven for the Adelaide Test and added pacer Scott Boland to the side who will replace injured Josh Hazlewood at the Adelaide Oval.
(With ANI inputs)
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