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Rohit Sharma gets new lease of life

Chief selector MSK Prasad confirms ODI star will open against South Africa in Tests; Rahul dropped, young Gill gets rewarded

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India’s Rohit Sharma gets picked in the Test team as opener for series against South Africa
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Rohit Sharma has finally got, what could be his last Test recall, that one chance which he was itching to get in an otherwise outstanding shorter format career. And he could not thank the five wisemen (selectors) for given him the opportunity in home conditions.

In Visakhapatnam when he walks out there alongside Mayank Agarwal on October 2 to face South Africa’s new-ball attack, the Mumbai batsman will certainly be aware that it will be end of story for him in the white flannels in case he fails to prove his mettle this time around.

Rohit has a phenomenal record in ODIs, scoring over 8600 runs in 211 innings at an average of over 48 with the help of 27 centuries. He also holds the record for the highest score — 264 against Sri Lanka in the 50-over format game. While in T20s internationals, the Mumbaikar is the highest run-getter, scoring more centuries (four) than anyone else.

Senior India selectors, led by MSK Prasad, have understandably chosen to experiment with Rohit against Proteas in order to reward him for his consistent shorter format performances. With no overseas tours till New Zealand next February, the selectors may have thought that Team India still have time to test another opener in case Rohit fails to impress.

The situation, obviously, arise after regular KL Rahul averaged mere 20.23 in last 15 Tests where he was treated as No. 1 opening batsman. His inability to tackle the moving ball outside off-stump, thus scoring just one century in two years, proved to be his nemesis. Having scored a brilliant 199 against England in December 2016, Rahul’s next hundred came at the Oval in 2018.


(Left) KL Rahul misses out due to poor form; Shubman Gill (AFP)

On the other hand, Rohit was for some reason not considered for recent Caribbean tour despite hammering five tons in the World Cup.

DNA has learnt that the idea to test Rohit in longer format was floated by team management only in conversation with selection panel. Once having all five selectors on board, it was later discussed with Rohit and once he showed his willingness then MSK & Co gave a thumps to the decision.

Rohit’s cause was also helped with the fact that his younger teammate in Mumbai team, Prithvi Shaw, was not available for selection after testing positive for a banned drug in a domestic game.

The endorsement for Rohit also came in from none other than former India skipper Sourav Ganguly and also former Australian wicket-keeper batsman Adam Gilchrist who termed the Indian 32-year-old as “world class”.

Gilchrist said that though Rohit seems like he is laid back but he works really hard on his game. “I think Rohit deceives people. I mean, since he is a laid-back (kind of) guy, people think he is not working hard enough. In reality, he is world-class,” Gilchrist was quoted as saying on Thursday.

Rohit started his international career as middle-order batsman in 2007. And it was only in 2013 that he was tested as opener. And he has not looked back ever since, scoring 25 out of his total 27 centuries as an opener. Though, his successes came in only ODIs but the Mumbaikar impressed everyone with his ability to score big hundreds. His three double centuries in ODIs are enough to understand his potential unutilised in Test cricket.

It will be interesting to see if the elegant batsman grabs this challenge to be a man of all seasons or will he go down in the history of cricket as someone who could not do justice to his talent in cricket’s most traditional format. 

PRASAD RUBBISHES DHONI’S RETIREMENT RUMOURS

The speculations regarding MS Dhoni’s retirement were put to rest on Thursday with chief selector MSK Prasad saying that there was no update on the 38-year-old wicket-keeper batsman bidding adieu to cricket.

Prasad on Thursday announced the India squad for the Test series against South Africa at a press conference here. When he was asked if there was any update on Dhoni’s retirement, Prasad said: “No, absolutely not. I am really surprised to hear that.”

A deluge of speculations emerged after India skipper Virat Kohli shared his image along with Dhoni on Twitter. Kohli captioned the image as “A game I can never forget. Special night. This man, made me run like in a fitness test @msdhoni.”

TEST SQUAD

India squad: Virat Kohli (C), Mayank Agarwal, Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (wk), Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Shubman Gill

ROHIT TO LEAD BP XI

Mumbai batsman Rohit Sharma will lead the Board President’s XI team for a three-day warm-up game against South Africa to be played in Vizianagaram beginning September 26. Rohit will open the innings with Mayank Agarwal in the practice game. 

Board President’s XI: Rohit Sharma (C), Mayank Agarwal, Priyank Panchal, AR Easwaran, Karun Nair, Siddhesh Lad, KS Bharat (wk), Jalaj Saxena, Dharmendrasinh Jadeja, Avesh Khan, Ishan Porel, Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav

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