In a major boost for Team India, skipper Rohit Sharma is all set to fly out to Australia in the coming days and will join the rest of the squad in Perth. Rohit’s departure to Australia was delayed due to the birth of his second child earlier this month.
The 37-year-old, who was blessed with a baby boy on November 15, will miss the first Test of the five-match series, which starts in Perth on Friday, November 22. However, he will join the team in Perth on November 24, the third day of the first Test at Opus Stadium, a Cricbuzz report said.
The report added that Rohit has informed the concerned authorities in the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) that he would join the squad on Sunday.
In the absence of Rohit, Jasprit Bumrah will lead the side in the first Test. While addressing the pre-match press conference, the premier pacer spoke about being in touch with the regular skipper.
“I spoke with Rohit earlier. But I got a little bit of clarity on leading the side after coming in here,” Bumrah said in the press conference on the eve of the start of Perth Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
Although Bumrah is likely to leave the captaincy when Rohit arrives in Australia, the 30-year-old pacer said he was a big advocate of fast bowlers holding the responsibility of being skipper.
“I have always advocated for pacers being captains. They are tactically better. Pat (Cummins) has done a phenomenal job. There are a lot of models in the past as well. Kapil Dev and a lot of other captains in the past. Hopefully a start of a new tradition,” Bumrah said.
India squad for BGT 2024-25: Rohit Sharma (c), Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Ravindra Jadeja, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Sarfaraz Khan, Virat Kohli, Prasidh Krishna, Ravichandran Ashwin, Rishabh Pant (wk), KL Rahul, Harshit Rana, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shubman Gill, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Mohammed Siraj, Washington Sundar.
