Rohit Sharma Informs BCCI of Availability for Team India in Perth

Rohit Sharma Informs BCCI of Availability for Team India in Perth: Rohit Sharma will not play the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia but will join the team in Perth on Sunday 24th November – Day 3 of the Test. He will fly in soon to join the team while they are playing at the Optus Stadium and will be in time for the second Test at the Adelaide Oval starting December 6.

This is a big relief for India who will be playing under vice captain Jasprit Bumrah at the Optus Stadium starting Friday. Rohit decided to stay back in India for the birth of his second child. Last Friday 15th November Rohit became a father to a baby boy and he announced it on Saturday. Despite being in a tight squeeze Rohit was in contention to take the flight to Australia and play the 1st Test.

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But as things unfolded the whispers died down and even though BCCI didn’t officially announce anything about Rohit, it was clear he won’t be playing in Perth. But with plenty of time between the first and second Test Rohit is a certainty for the pink ball day night Test. In fact he has already informed BCCI about his travel plans.

"Rohit is slated to leave from Mumbai on 23rd, and he will be reaching Perth on the 24th. Upon reaching, he will plan it out with the coaching staff on how to go about the preparation for the day-night Test in Adelaide. He is available for the practice game in Canberra" a source close to Hindustan Times said while confirming the development.

The Indians will play a two day warm up game against Prime Ministers XI at Canberra’s Manuka Oval on 30th November. This will be their second practice game of the tour as they recently played a three day intra-squad simulation match where players of India and India A were pitted against each other.

Bumrah mentioned Rohit in his pre match press conference on Thursday but it wasn’t about his availability but about picking the brains of his India and former Mumbai Indians captain.

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Bumrah has captained in just one Test previously – against England at Birmingham in 2022 – which India lost.

The series against Australia is the biggest assignment of Rohit’s captaincy career. He led India to a 2-1 win in 2023 when the Aussies played five Tests across Nagpur, Delhi, Indore and Ahmedabad. India and Australia have played each other many times since then including the final of last year’s WTC and the World Cup and Rohit’s India lost both the ICC finals. India got some payback when they knocked out the Aussies from the T20 World Cup and eventually won the title but with the wounds of a whitewash against New Zealand still fresh nothing less than a series win can redeem Rohit’s captaincy career.

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