Rohit Sharma officially demoted in India's batting order days ahead of Adelaide Test

The Rohit Sharma-led Indian cricket team will take on the Australian cricket team in the second Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT 2024-25) series. Rohit's batting position in the playing XI unofficially leaked during Team India's practice session two days before the pink ball Test match.

Rohit missed the first Test of the BGT 2024-25 series due to personal reasons. The right-handed batter wanted to stay with his wife and family during the birth of his second child. Star pace bowler Jasprit Bumrah led Team India in Rohit's absence. India secured an emphatic 295-run victory in Perth.

Rohit Sharma Demotes Himself in the Batting Order Ahead of Adelaide Test

With just two days remaining for the second Test, the visiting team will have to reshuffle their batting order. Rohit and injured Shubman Gill returned to the team for the warm-up match against Australia Prime Minister's XI. Notably, Rohit batted in the middle order during the practice match.

Sports journalist Subhayan Chakraborty from RevSportz (formerly Twitter) revealed the batting order for the pink-ball match. Subhayan shared the details of the Indian batting practice in the nets. It indicates that KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal will open with Shubman Gill at 3 and Rohit Sharma at 5.

India nets:

Yashasvi-Rahul
Gill-Kohli
Rohit-Pant
Reddy-Sundar

— Subhayan Chakraborty (@CricSubhayan) December 3, 2024

KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal to Open in Adelaide Test

Rohit struggled in the recent warm-up match against PMXI, dismissed for just three runs off 11 balls. However, India won the match by six wickets. Rohit was observed working hard in the nets. He has scored 408 runs in his seven Test matches in Australia at an average of 31.38, including three fifties.

KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal stepped up in Rohit Sharma's absence. The batting duo added a record-breaking 201-run partnership in the second innings of the first Test. They continued to open in the recent warm-up match against PMXI. Rahul registered scores of 26 and 77 runs during the series opener.

Looks Like Rohit Sharma Will Not Open Now - Aakash Chopra

In a video on his YouTube channel, former cricketer Aakash Chopra said that Rohit is likely to bat in the middle order for the upcoming Test. He pointed out that Rohit last batted in the middle order for India in Test cricket during the 2018-19 Border-Gavaskar Trophy series in Melbourne.

“It looks like Rohit Sharma will not open now because there was only one pink-ball practice match against the Prime Minister's XI, and in that, Rohit came to bat down the order. He did not bat as an opener,” Chopra said.

"When the India vs Australia pink-ball Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy starts in Adelaide on the 6th, it would have been 2170 days since Rohit Sharma last batted in the middle order. He did that last in 2018, six years ago, at the Melbourne ground. He hasn't batted in the middle order for India in Test cricket after that,” he continued.

Also read: Yashasvi Jaiswal told to Shut Up and not sledge Mitchell Starc any further in Border-Gavaskar Trophy