Indian skipper Rohit Sharma did not want to disrupt the top-order. As KL Rahul scored a half-century in the Perth Test and Shubman Gill returned after thumb injury, Rohit walked out to bat to the middle.
When Rahul retired out after 18th over, Rohit walked out to bat at no.4 for much-needed game time ahead of pink-ball Test at Adelaide Oval. He was cautious against 19-year-old Charlie Anderson and did not score a single run in the over. In the next over, he got off the mark against Hanno Jacobs by working the ball towards the leg side.
In the next over, he worked the full delivery into the gap for a couple of runs. On the next ball, he wasn't lured into a drive by a wide half-volley. However, Rohit could not curb his instincts and went for a drive away from the body and edged one to first slip fielder Oliver Davies.
With another soft dismissal, Rohit's struggle in red-ball continued. In the last five Tests, he has managed to score just one half-century. In the last four innings, he has registered scores of 0, 8, 18 and 11.
Earlier, Rohit won the toss and opted to bowl first at Manuka Oval, Canberra on December 1. Despite Sam Konstas century and Hanno Jacobs' half-century helped Primie Minister's XI post 240 on the board. Harshit Rana was the pick of the bowlers with four wickets for 44 runs.
In reply, openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rahul shared a 75-run partnership from 16.3 overs. Jaiswal scored 45 runs from 59 balls including nine fours. He lost his wicket to Anderson as well. Rahul scored 27 runs from 44 balls before getting retired hurt.
Rohit's record in pink-ball Tests
Rohit has a decent record in pink-ball Tests. He has scored 173 runs from five innings at an average of 43.25 including one half-century. He is India's second-highest run-scorer in day/night Tests after Virat Kohli who has 277 runs form six innings.
It will be interesting to see whether Rohit opens the innings alongside Jaiswal or bats in the middle order.