India skipper Rohit Sharma confirmed on Thursday that his compatriot KL Rahul will open the batting in the upcoming Adelaide Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia.
What this means is that the skipper will go back to the middle order despite his good showing at the top of the order in Test cricket. For KL Rahul it means a vote of confidence in his abilities especially after his showing in the Perth Test. In the Perth Test, KL Rahul played a magnificent innings of 77 runs from 176 balls which was laced with five boundaries in his innings.
Rahul along with Yashasvi Jaiswal built a record-breaking partnership of 201 runs for the first wicket in the opening Test of the five-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 at the Optus Stadium in Perth.
Speaking at the pre-match press conference, Rohit Sharma also revealed that he will be coming off somewhere in the middle of the batting lineup.
“He’ll be opening the batting; I’ll bat somewhere in the middle,” Rohit Sharma was quoted by ESPNcricinfo as saying.
KL Rahul made his Test debut against Australia in 2014. following that he has appeared in 54 long format matches and scored 3084 runs at a strike rate of 52.56 and an average of 34.26.
India are currently 1-0 up in the BGT series following their record-shattering 295-run victory in Perth. The second Test will be played in a day-night format in Adelaide, beginning from Friday.
Earlier on Thursday, Australia named the playing eleven for the Adelaide Test and added pacer Scott Boland to the side who will replace injured Josh Hazlewood at the Adelaide Oval.
The Adelaide Test will be Boland’s first match for Australia in the last 18 months. Skipper Cummins also confirmed that Mitchell Marsh will be fit to bowl in the Adelaide Test. Boland’s previous Test was against England in the prestigious Ashes 2023 series. The 35-year-old will be replacing Hazlewood who suffered an injury during the Perth Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
Australia Playing XI for the Second Test: Usman Khawaja, Nathan McSweeney, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Mitch Marsh, Alex Carey (WK), Pat Cummins (C), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland.