Gambhir flies back to join squad ahead of second Test in Adelaide
He missed the team's two-day tour match against the Australian Prime Minister's XI in Canberra, which was reduced to a limited-overs game due to rain.
Gautam Gambhir and Rohit Sharma
MUMBAI: India cricket's head coach, Gautam Gambhir, will rejoin the squad in Australia on Tuesday after briefly returning to India for personal reasons. He missed the team's two-day tour match against the Australian Prime Minister's XI in Canberra, which was reduced to a limited-overs game due to rain.
The second Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Adelaide, is scheduled to begin on December 6. In Gambhir’s absence, the support staff, including Abhishek Nayar, Ryan ten Doeschate, and Morne Morkel, handled the team’s training and participated in the Canberra match, where India secured a six-wicket victory. Harshit Rana’s 4/ 44 and Shubman Gill’s 50 off 62 balls were pivotal in the win.
With Gambhir’s return, he will be involved in discussions regarding India's playing XI, as Rohit Sharma, the regular Test captain, rejoins the team after missing the first Test to be with his wife for the birth of their second child.Jasprit Bumrah led India to a commanding 295-run victory in Perth. Gill, who had missed the first Test due to a thumb injury, is also back in the selection frame.
If changes are made, such as bringing Rohit and Gill in for Devdutt Padikkal and Dhruv Jurel, the opening partnership will be under scrutiny. Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul had a strong double-century stand in the second innings of the Perth Test. Initial signals from the pink-ball tour game suggest Jaiswal and Rahul will continue as openers, with Gill replacing Padikkal at No. 3 and Rohit potentially moving to the middle order behind Virat Kohli. Rishabh Pant is likely to be the other fixed middle-order batsman.