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Former Indian cricket team selector Devang Gandhi believes that skipper Rohit Sharma should bat at No. 6 instead of opening the innings in the second Test match against Australia in Adelaide starting December 6. Rohit missed the first Test match as he decided to stay back in India following the birth of his second child but the star batter will be returning to the side for the second Test match. However, he failed to perform well in the the pink-ball warm-up game against Prime Minister's XI on Sunday at the Manuka Oval in Canberra. During a recent interview, Gandhi said that Rohit will be a good option in the middle order for India and considering the fact that he started his career at No. 6, it will not a major problem.
"In fact, I feel Rohit should come in at No. 6, because Rishabh Pant, too, has shaped up very well at 5…The left-right combo, too, can be maintained that way," Gandhi told Times of India. "It becomes difficult if a middle-order batter tries to become an opener in the latter stages of his career. But it will not be difficult for an opener to go in the middle-order, especially for Rohit, who started as a No. 6 batter for India."
Incidentally, the last time Rohit batted at No. 6 was during the 2018-19 tour of Australia. The right-handed batter ended up scoring 37, 1, 63* and 5 in the two matches in Melbourne and Adelaide.
Earlier, Rohit said that he was pleased with their curtailed warm-up game time after defeating the Australian Prime Minister's XI by six wickets at the Manuka Oval on Sunday.
The opening day of the two-day pink-ball match was washed out due to rain and the match was reduced to 46-over per side with more rain on the second day of the encounter.
With Shubman Gill scoring a half-century after missing the first Test due to a left thumb injury and Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul retaining their spot as openers despite Rohit's return, India ticked all boxes before heading to the pink-ball Test in Adelaide, starting on December 6.
“Yeah, it was fantastic. We got what we wanted as a group. But we were a little unlucky that we didn't get the whole game. It was washed out the other day. But whatever time we got, we tried to make the most of it, and we got pretty much out of what we had in front of us,” Rohit said after the match.
(With IANS inputs)