\n<\/p>\n
Rohit Sharma to Miss First Test Against Australia for Family Reasons<\/strong><\/p>\n India\u2019s cricket captain, Rohit Sharma, will not participate in the first match of the upcoming five-match Test series against Australia. He and his wife, Ritika Sajdeh, welcomed a baby boy on Friday, leading Rohit to prioritize staying in India with his family during this special time. In his absence, bowler Jasprit Bumrah will take over the captaincy for the opening match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.<\/p>\n India now faces a challenging situation as they need to adjust their batting lineup without Rohit. The absence of Shubman Gill due to injury has further complicated matters, leaving a significant void in the batting order.<\/p>\n Before heading to Australia, the Indian team traveled with a large squad of 18 players, anticipating the possibility of Rohit\u2019s absence. The captain had already expressed that he might not be available for the series opener. Additionally, the team had the option to call up players from the India A team that recently toured Australia to bolster their lineup.<\/p>\n With the first Test just four days away in Perth, India must decide on the best mix of players to open the batting. Yashasvi Jaiswal is expected to take one of the opening spots, but here are five players who are strong candidates for the top order:<\/p>\n 1. KL Rahul<\/strong> 2. Abhimanyu Easwaran<\/strong> 3. Dhruv Jurel<\/strong> 4. Virat Kohli<\/strong> 5. Washington Sundar<\/strong> As the team prepares for this important series, all eyes will be on the selection and strategies they’ll adopt in Rohit Sharma\u2019s absence.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Rohit Sharma to Miss First Test Against Australia for Family Reasons India\u2019s cricket captain, Rohit Sharma, will not participate in the first match of the upcoming five-match Test series against Australia. He and his wife, Ritika Sajdeh, welcomed a baby boy on Friday, leading Rohit to prioritize staying in India with his family during this<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2606,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[1786,2051,2050,1152,903,1619,904,1180],"class_list":{"0":"post-2605","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-aus-vs-ind","9":"tag-border-gavaskar-trophy-2024-25","10":"tag-dhruv-jurel","11":"tag-kl-rahul","12":"tag-rohit-sharma","13":"tag-shubman-gill","14":"tag-virat-kohli","15":"tag-washington-sundar"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/indiabulletinusa.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/indiabulletinusa.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/indiabulletinusa.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indiabulletinusa.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indiabulletinusa.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/indiabulletinusa.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2605\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indiabulletinusa.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/indiabulletinusa.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indiabulletinusa.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indiabulletinusa.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nKL Rahul is a strong contender to step in for Rohit at the top of the order, having previously opened in Test matches in Australia. Despite struggling in the unofficial Test against Australia A, the team management supports him due to his extensive experience. Rahul has an average of 32 as an opener outside India and has hit six centuries.<\/p>\n
\nEaswaran has earned a spot in the squad following impressive domestic performances, including four consecutive centuries this season. However, his performance against Australia A was not up to par, scoring only 36 runs across four innings. Still, his domestic achievements make him a viable option for either the opening or number 3 position.<\/p>\n
\nDhruv Jurel, the wicketkeeper-batter, showed his talent during the unofficial Test in Melbourne, scoring 80 and 68 in his team’s two innings. His impressive performance makes a strong case for his inclusion in the playing XI, and he could bat at number 3 in place of Gill.<\/p>\n
\nWhile Virat Kohli has not been in peak form recently, scoring only 93 runs in the series against New Zealand, his vast experience could make him a key player at number 3. With Gill sidelined, Kohli may be relied upon to stabilize the batting order.<\/p>\n
\nIn a surprising twist, Washington Sundar could be promoted to open the batting. He had a promising debut in Australia in 2021, scoring a valuable 62 runs at the Gabba. Given the current uncertainty in the batting lineup, moving Sundar up could provide more depth and balance.<\/p>\n