Australia vs India: Rohit Sharma In As India Announce Playing XI For SCG Test

Team India, on Wednesday, announced their playing eleven for the third Test against Australia, scheduled to start on January 7 at the Sydney Cricket Ground. As expected, Rohit Sharma has been included in the playing eleven for the penultimate game of the four-match series. The right-handed batsman, who was recently appointed the vice-captain for the last two Tests, has replaced Mayank Agarwal in the side.

Agarwal has faced the axe for his poor displays in the first two Tests. The opening batsman failed to deliver in any of the four innings, registering scores of 17, 9, 0 and 5. Hanuma Vihari’s place was in doubt too and several reports suggested that Rohit could replace him in the playing eleven. However, the team-management has decided to persist with the underperforming middle-order batsman.

Rohit Sharma will open the innings with Shubman Gill who made his debut in the second Test and looked impressive. The youngster registered scores of 45 and 35* on his debut. In another change, Team India have handed debut to Navdeep Saini. The pacer has replaced Umesh Yadav in the playing eleven after the latter was ruled out of the series with a calf injury.

Also Read: New Zealand Claim World No. 1 Test Rankings For First Time In Their History After Thrashing Pakistan

Recently, reports suggested that Shardul Thakur was likely to get the nod in the playing eleven because of his experience. But Navdeep Saini’s pace and the ability to extract bounce has convinced the team-management to pick him in the eleven. The rest of the team is the same which won the second Test at the MCG to draw level in  the four-match series.

India’s playing XI:

Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara,  Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Navdeep Saini.

Also Read: CSK’s Ruturaj Gaikwad Recalls How The Team Helped Him Overcome Initial Struggle In IPL 2020

Also Read: Australia vs India 2020-21, 3rd Test: Masks Mandatory For Fans At Sydney