Team India captain Rohit Sharma suffered a dislocation on his left-hand thumb during December 7’s One Day International loss against Bangladesh and is set to be replaced by India-A skipper Abhimanyu Easwaran in the Test Squad.
Rohit injured himself during the first half of the second ODI while attempting a catch in the slip cordon during the second over of the match and didn’t take the field for rest of the first innings.
The opener also wasn’t in a condition to bat and hence, didn’t open for his side. However, upon being forced to bat with Team India nine down an injured Rohit tried his best to get his men over the line and smacked a ballistic 50 off just 28 deliveries.
Regardless, position of Rohit Sharma in the Test squad is under doubt and he is unlikely to be hundred percent fit for the 3 match series commencing 14 December.
He will also be unavailable for the 3rd ODI and KL Rahul will lead the side in both formats in Rohit’s absence.
Easwaran to replace Rohit Sharma in Test Squad; Umran to also be considered
Right-hand bat Abhimanyu Easwaran is expected to replace the skipper for the red-ball matches. Easwaran is coming off consecutive hundreds for India-A side that he captains and in all, has 5420 first-class runs and 18 hundreds under his belt.
The absence of Rohit Sharma aside, other changes are also possible in the Test Squad as Jammu and Kashmir pacer Umran Malik is being considered to replace an injured Mohammad Shami.
Saurabh Kumar might also be taken as a backup spin option due to his his brilliant First-Class record (53 matches, 231 wickets at an average of 24), reports PTI.
There is also an off-chance of the management not going for a backup spinner for Ravindra Jadeja (who just returns from an injury), and instead gambling on Suryakumar Yadav as a middle order enforcer.