Team India is riddled with a selection dilemma for the first Test against Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy which is slated to start from November 22 in Perth. With uncertainty over Rohit Sharma's availability for the Perth Test due to personal reasons, the team needs to find a suitable opening partner for Yashasvi Jaiswal.
Who can replace Rohit Sharma as India opener in first Test of Border-Gavaskar Trophy?
Abhimanyu Easwaran was preferred over Ruturaj Gaikwad and was selected as the third opener in the India's squad for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-2-25. While Easwaran has been a consistent performer in domestic cricket, his chances of making a debut in the upcoming Test are uncertain.
KL Rahul to open with Abhimanyu Easwaran for India A in 2nd unofficial Test vs Australia A
As per a report in ESPNcricinfo, KL Rahul is set to open the batting with Abhimanyu Easwaran for India A in their second unofficial Test against Australia 'A' starting from November 7. This strategic move indicates that Rahul is being considered for a potential opening role in the Indian Test team, in case Rohit ends up winning the opening Test.
As a result, Ruturaj Gaikwad, who was named as a reserve top-order batter for the West Indies and South Africa tours last year, might be seen batting in the middle order in the clash between India A and Australia A. Despite being the captain, Gaikwad's lack of recent red-ball cricket experience, due to injuries and benchings, may have influenced this decision.
Dhruv Jurel is set to replace Ishan Kishan as the wicket-keeper batter in the India 'A' squad. Both Rahul and Jurel have joined the team in Australia after being excluded from the playing XI for the third Test against New Zealand.
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Rahul, who played in the series against Bangladesh and the first Test against New Zealand, batted at number six in all three matches. Jurel, despite his impressive debut against England, did not feature in the home season due to Rishabh Pant's return from injury. Of the 53 Tests he has played in his career, Rahul has opened the batting in 44 of them. In these innings, he has scored 2551 runs in 75 innings, averaging 34.94 with seven centuries.
It will be interesting to see whether Rohit will feature in the Perth Test or not. For now, even Rohit isn't sure whether he will play the opening Test or not as when being asked about the same after India's humiliating Test series sweep against New Zealand, he said:
"Not sure whether I will be going, fingers crossed".
India A squad for 2nd first-class game against Australia A:
Ruturaj Gaikwad (C), Abhimanyu Easwaran (VC), Sai Sudharsan, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Devdutt Padikkal, Ricky Bhui, Baba Indrajith, Ishan Kishan (WK), Abishek Porel (WK), Mukesh Kumar, Khaleel Ahmed, Navdeep Saini, Manav Suthar, Tanush Kotian, Prasidh Krishna, KL Rahul, Dhruv Jurel (wk)
