IND vs AUS: Rohit Sharma Not Opening in Second Test as India Sticks with Current Opening Pair

Rohit Sharma was absent for the opening Test of the series against Australia because his second child was born. As a result, KL Rahul opened the batting with Yashasvi Jaiswal. In a recent practice match against the Australian Prime Minister’s XI, Rohit batted at No.4, while KL Rahul and Jaiswal remained the opening pair.

In an interview, Sanjay Manjrekar confirmed that Rohit Sharma will not open in the second Test. He mentioned that the team will continue with the successful opening pair of KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal, who performed well in the second innings of the first Test. He said:

Yes, for me it’s a clear indication. I thought of maybe a few other things why they would do that. But this is, I think, as clear as it gets that just like we were all contemplating and wondering whether the very, very successful opening pair that we had in the second innings of the last match to be dismantled considering it made such an important contribution. So yeah, a very clear indication.

In the first innings, Rahul and Jaiswal had a small five-run partnership. However, in the second innings, they achieved India’s first-ever 200-run opening partnership in Australia, adding 201 runs. Their efforts set Australia a tough target of 534 and India won by a dominant 295 runs.