India head coach Gautam Gambhir on Monday said that if Rohit Sharma is going to miss the opening Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series in Perth, then vice-captain Jasprit Bumrah will lead the side.
Rohit is not sure about his availability for the first Test against Australia due to personal reasons. Bumrah was among the likely contenders to lead India in the marquee series opener.
Gambhir, who remains in the dark over captain Rohit's participation in the first Test against Australia, has confirmed that the team pace spearhead Bumrah would be entrusted with the responsibility of captaining the side.
"At the moment, there's no confirmation. Hopefully, he will be available. We will take a call closer to the first Test if Rohit is not available. KL Rahul is there. Abhimanyu is there. We will try to field the best possible playing XI," Gambhir said on Rohit's participation in Perth Test while addressing the pre-departure press conference.
Bumrah had earlier led India in the rescheduled fifth Test against England at Edgbaston, Birmingham in 2022 when Covid-19 diagnosis had ruled out Rohit from playing the match.
"Jasprit Bumrah is the vice-captain obviously if Rohit Sharma is not available, he will be leading the side," Gambhir added when asked who will don the captain's hat in Rohit's absence.
Gambhir elaborated on his support to Rahul in doing his job at the top of batting order and complimented cricketing skills of batting sensation to perform at any position for the team.
"You go with experienced players as well. I think that is the quality of a man that he can actually bat at the top of the order. You can batter at number three and he can actually bat in sixth position as well. So you need quite a lot of talent to be doing these kinds of jobs as well, and he kept wickets in a one-day format as well.".
"So imagine how many countries have players like KL Rahul who can actually open the batting and can bat at number six as well. So I feel that if needed to be, I think he can do the job for us, especially if Rohit is not available for the first Test match," Gambhir said.
A first batch of Indian squad-fast bowlers Mohammed Siraj and Akash Deep, assistant coach Abhishek Nayar, all-rounder Washington Sundar, middle-order batter Sarfaraz Khan and opening batter Yashasvi Jaiswal left for Australia Sunday night for the forthcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy from Mumbai.
The first Test will begin on November 22 in Perth, then the second Test from December 6 at Adelaide, then the third one on 14th December in Brisbane. Next, the Boxing Day Test will take place at Melbourne on 26th December, then the fifth final Test will start on 3rd January 2025 at Sydney.
India and Australia will be contesting for the very first time with a five-match Test series.
The five-match series is crucial for India's chances of completing a hat-trick of appearance in the World Test Championship Final, as they were recently handed over a 3-0 series defeat by New Zealand, with India placed at 58.33% in points percentage, and second-placed Australia are already table-toppers.
India will have to win at least four Tests of the five to enhance their prospects for qualification in the third successive WTC final.
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