'It's hard to see him sitting outside': Ajinkya Rahane glad to see Rohit Sharma open batting for India in Test

After effortlessly securing the Test series in West Indies against the hosts, Team India's Test vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane expressed his feelings on how difficult it was to see a player like Rohit Sharma being benched against the Caribbeans.

Chief selector MSK Prasad confirmed last month that Rohit is being considered to open the batting for India during the upcoming three-match matches Test series against South Africa, and Rahane, who scored a ton and two half-centuries in West Indies, was glad to hear about the news.

"I don't know yet if Rohit will open the innings. If he does then I'm really happy for him," Espn Cricinfo quoted Rahane as saying.

"In West Indies also it's actually hard to see a player like Rohit sitting outside. He works so hard, he's been with the Test team for long now, so if he gets an opportunity I'll be really happy for him and I'm sure he will do well," Rahane added.

MSK Prasad also clarified that due to the omission of opener KL Rahul from the squad, Rohit has the backing of the entire team to set up and show his quality in red-ball cricket now.

The 32-year-old was the top run-getter at the ICC Men's World Cup 2019 but has played only 27 Test matches for India. 

India squad for 3 Tests: Virat Kohli (Captain), Mayank Agarwal, Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (Wicket-keeper), Wriddhiman Saha (Wicket-keeper), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Shubman Gill.