Indian captain Rohit Sharma has reported for Mumbai's net session ahead of the second leg of the 2024-25 Ranji Trophy, which gets underway on January 23.
The team went through a two-hour center-wicket practice session at Wankhede Stadium on Tuesday and is scheduled to train throughout the week ahead of their home game in the sixth round against Jammu and Kashmir.
Rohit had a struggling run with the bat in India's 1-3 loss at the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series against Australia. India failed to retain the trophy for the first time in a decade, and lost the third consecutive spot in the World Test Championship final.
Rohit, who had missed the first Test of the series due to the birth of his second child, could not score more than 10 runs in the five innings before opting to rest in the fifth Test at Sydney Cricket Ground. He scored only 31 runs in the series and was under public scrutiny for his substandard outings.
Rohit's availability for Mumbai's Ranji game is still uncertain. However, he has decided to train with the team, after consulting head coach Omkar Salvi, and this might indicate his availability for at least one of the remaining two games. The MCA is likely to announce the squad later this week.
Dinesh Lad, Rohit's childhood coach, also suggested the opening batsman to play domestic matches to regain form in red-ball cricket.
"I think Rohit has only two goals- first to win the World Test Championship and second to win the ODI World Cup. If he wanted, he should have retired from all formats (after T20 World Cup title), but he just retired from T20 cricket. He is not the only cricketer struggling to score runs. He needs to play at least one or two domestic games before Test matches," Lad told IANS.
"Because of T20 cricket, the mindset of batters has changed. He is a technically sound cricketer, and against England last year he was scoring good runs. If we win, people call Rohit the best captain, but when we lose people say he doesn't know captaincy," the Dronacharya awardee added.
Following the SCG Test, India head coach Gautam Gambhir said that the Test players must play domestic first-class cricket whenever possible.
He also avoided speculation on the Test futures of Rohit and Virat Kohli, who too has not been at his best in recent times.
When asked whether he thought there was a long-term roadmap for the team in red-ball cricket and whether it was time to invest in youngsters, Gambhir had said, "Look, it's too early to talk about it. The series has just got over. I think we still have five more months to plan where we want to head towards. But it's not the right moment right now for me to talk about that. Where are we going to be after five months?
"A lot of things change in sport. Forms change. People change. Attitude change. Everything changes in sport. And we all know that five months is a long time. So, let's see before the (England) series what's going to happen. But whatever will happen, will happen for the best interest of Indian cricket."
Current leaders are the Ranji Trophy defending champions Mumbai, placed well for entry into the playoffs. With three out of five match wins, the team stands at third place in Group A while Jammu and Kashmir stand ahead of them only by a solitary point.
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