The player who would captain the Indian team in Rohit Sharma’s place is the main source of concern as he is expected to miss the first Test of the next Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024–25 owing to personal reasons.
The men’s team’s head coach, Gautam Gambhir, said at a press conference on Monday, November 11, that Jasprit Bumrah will be the team’s designated vice-captain in Rohit Sharma’s absence.
“Bumrah is the vice-captain, so obviously he is going to be the captain in Rohit Sharma’s absence,” Gambhir admitted during the Mumbai press conference.
Bumrah is the vice-captain, so obviously he is going to be the captain when Rohit Sharma is not there: Gautam Gambhir #BGT
— चिरकुट ज़िंदगी (@Chirayu_Jain26) November 11, 2024
KL. Rahul is a top-order batsman: Gautam Gambhir
Gambhir added that before the tour starts, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will certify Rohit’s availability for the remaining series. This has led to yet another worry about who would be the best candidate to fill the starting spot in the event that the senior opener is not available.
If Rohit Sharma is unable to play, the Indian squad has a number of options for the opening position, including the explosive wicketkeeper-batter KL Rahul, the head coach added.
Imagine how many nations have players like KL Rahul who can start the batting and bat at No. 6 as well. He can bat in the top order, bat at 3, and play at 6. It takes a lot of skill to achieve all these things, and he keeps playing in ODIs.
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In the event that Rohit is unavailable for the opening Test match, I believe he can step in and take over for us,” Gambhir continued.
India squad for Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25:
Rohit Sharma (captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), Sarfaraz Khan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Dhruv Jurel (wicketkeeper), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah (vice-captain), Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar
India
