Good news followed Team India as its regular skipper Rohit Sharma is about to reach Bangladesh and is likely to be available for the second Test match on December 22.
A source privy to the development told Sports Tak that Rohit has made himself available for the second Test and he will be leaving for Bangladesh on December 16 or December 17. Rohit injured his thumb during the second ODI against the Bangladesh and in his absence KL Rahul is leading the India pack in the ongoing first Test in Chattogram. After Rohit was ruled out of the first Test, Abhimanyu Easwaran was named his replacement.
Earlier, BCCI had released an advisory which read," India captain Rohit Sharma met with a specialist in Mumbai for his left thumb injury, which he sustained during the 2nd ODI against Bangladesh. He has been advised appropriate management for this injury and will not be available for the first Test against Bangladesh. The BCCI Medical Team will take a call on his availability for the second and final Test at a later stage. The All-India Senior Selection Committee has named Abhimanyu Easwaran as his replacement for the first Test. Fast bowler Mohd. Shami and all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja are yet to fully recover from their respective shoulder and knee injuries and are ruled out of the Test series. The selectors have named Navdeep Saini and Saurabh Kumar as replacements for Shami and Jadeja respectively. The selection committee has also added fast bowler Jaydev Unadkat to India’s squad for the Test series.”
Prior to the series, India's star all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja including Mohammed Shami was also ruled out of the Test outing in Bangladesh as Navdeep Saini and Saurabh Kumar were named their replacements respectively in the India's squad. Also, pacer Jaydev Unadkat has been to India’s squad for the Test series but missed out on the first Test.
It will be a big boost for the Indian side if Rohit will be back for the second Test, especially in the build up to the World Test Championship (WTC) 2021-2023 final. India, who are placed fourth in the points table, need to win all the six Test matches if they have to qualify for the second straight WTC final.
India's squad for Bangladesh Tests: KL Rahul (C), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara (VC), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (WK), KS Bharat (WK), Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Navdeep Saini, Saurabh Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat