Border-Gavaskar Trophy: Bumrah to lead if Rohit doesn’t make it says Gambhir

Head coach Gautam Gambhir on Monday said Jasprit Bumrah, as designated vice-captain, will lead India in the opening Test against Australia in Perth if regular skipper Rohit Sharma is unavailable for the game due to personal reasons.

The straight-talking former opener also indicated that KL Rahul could be asked to open the innings in place of Rohit.

The second batch of the Indian players is leaving for Perth, but Rohit has stayed back. Uncertainty remains if Rohit will compete in the series-opener.

“At the moment, there is no confirmation. We will let you know exactly what the situation will be. Hopefully, he is going to be available, but everything you want to know, you will get to know before the start of the series,” Gambhir said.

“Bumrah is the vice-captain, so obviously If Rohit is not available, he is going to lead in Perth,” the coach added.

Rohit’s possible absence also leaves a spot vacant at the top of the batting order and Gambhir said one among the uncapped Abhimanyu Easwaran and KL Rahul, who both played in the unofficial Tests against Australia A for India A, will be picked.

“Obviously, there is Easwaran, there is KL there. We will take a call closer to the first Test match if Rohit is not available.

“There are options. There are quite a lot of options in this spot. Once it gets closer to the first Test match, we will try and play the best playing XI who is going to do the job for us,” he added.

However he gave enough indications that Rahul’s experience might prevail over rookie Easwaran’s current form. “There are times when you go with the experienced players as well and that is the quality of the man. He (Rahul) can actually bat at the top of the order, he can bat at number 3 and at number 6 as well,” said the former southpaw.

“So I feel that if needed be, I think he (Rahul) can do the job for us, especially if Rohit is not available for the first Test match,” Gambhir said.

Why Harshit Rana wasn’t sent for A tour?

Rana was not sent with the India A squad for the unofficial ‘Tests’ in Australia to be ready for the BGT series but Gambhir said the management did not want to add to his workload by getting him to play First-Class games.

“He had played a first-class game against Assam and he did reasonably well (took five-for and scored half-century). We all thought that he has had enough bowling under his belt rather than just sending and playing him another first-class game,” Gambhir said.

10 days of training enough

Gambhir, who will be travelling with the second batch of Indian squad on Monday, said adjusting to conditions in Australia over the next 10 days will be vital for the team. “We have got a lot of experienced players who have been to Australia a lot of times. Their experience will come in handy for the young players as well. These 10 days are going to be very crucial but come 22nd morning, we should be absolutely ready to fire from ball one,” he said.