Rohit Sharma demoted, India's new opening pair named by Deep Dasgupta for 2nd Test vs England

The first Test between India and England saw the latter winning the match by 28 runs and it was bizarre to see the hosts giving away the match after taking a lead of 190 runs after the first innings. Former India cricketer Deep Dasgupta reckons Rohit Sharma should bat at No.4 in the second Test match against England as he picks his Playing XI for India in the second Test. Team India suffered a huge blow as KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja both were ruled out of the second Test due to injury.

Rohit Sharma scored 24 and 39 in the respective innings of the first Test and played some good shots in the second innings. However, his performance has not been up to the mark in red-ball cricket in the past few series. Therefore, Deep Dasgupta wants the Indian skipper to play at No.4 in the second Test and he has also talked about how he would like to go with four spinners in his XI.

“I want Rohit Sharma to bat at No.4, I mean it is a bit out of the box and I would go in with four spinners in which there will be both Washington (Sundar) and Kuldeep (Yadav) and I will play one seamer less,” said Deep Dasgupta.

He added talking about his playing XI for the second Test saying, “Now let me just quickly go through the playing XI according to me. I will make Shubman and Yashasvi open the batting, Patidar at no.3, Rohit Sharma at No.4, Shreyas at No.5, put a left-hander Washington at No.6 because you need a left-hander as we saw in the last match, Ashwin at No.7, Kona (Bharat) at No.8, Axar at No.9, Kuldeep at No.10 and Bumrah at 11 with Bumrah being the only seamer.”

Deep Dasgupta’s India XI for the 2nd Test: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Rajat Patidar, Rohit Sharma, Shreyas Iyer, Washington Sundar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kona Bharat, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah

Watch- Deep Dasgupta Talking About Rohit Sharma Batting At No.4

Should Rohit bat at 4? #CricketTwitter #deeppoint #rohitsharma #INDvsENG @Pandit599 pic.twitter.com/hRnTYCvdHg

— Deep Dasgupta (@DeepDasgupta7) February 1, 2024

Rohit Sharma used to bat at No.6 for India before being promoted as an opener in Tests in 2019. He has played 25 innings in Test cricket at No.6 and has scored 1037 runs at an average of 54.58 which includes six half-centuries and three centuries. Rohit has batted at No.4 in only one innings in his Test career where he was out for a meagre 4.

Rohit Sharma made a massive switch in his stats after he was promoted as an opener in Test cricket. He has played 47 innings as an opener and has amassed 2215 runs at an average of 50.34 which includes six half-centuries and seven centuries with a personal best of 212 against South Africa in 2019. Sharma was appointed as India’s Test captain in 2022 after Virat Kohli left the captaincy following the series defeat against South Africa.

The second Test of the five-match series between India and England will be played at DR Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Vishakhapatnam. The visitors won the first Test in Hyderabad and are currently leading the series by 1-0. India will be hoping to win the second Test and make a comeback in this series.