Rohit Sharma To Replace Mayank Agarwal In Playing XI For SCG Test: Report

‘Will Rohit Sharma play the third Test against Australia and if he plays, what would be his batting position?’ – These are the couple of questions that are doing the rounds in the buildup to the crucial SCG Test. The third Test of the four-match series is scheduled to be played from January 7. With the series locked at 1-1, a win in the upcoming game will give the winner an unassailable lead.

Rohit Sharma joined the team after the second Test in Melbourne following his 14-day quarantine in Sydney. The opening batsman missed the first two Tests as well as the limited-overs series because of the calf injury he had sustained in IPL 2020. Rohit Sharma was at the NCA in Bengaluru for his rehab and went to Australia last month.

And while the cricketing world is busy speculating over his position for the upcoming Test, Mirror has reported that the right-handed batsman is set to open the innings. The report stated that Rohit Sharma will replace out-of-form Mayank Agarwal in the team and will open the innings with Shubman Gill who looked impressive on his debut in the previous Test.

There have been different views over his batting position since he joined the team last week. Some experts even opined that Rohit Sharma should bat in the middle order instead of exposing himself to the seaming new ball up front. It would have meant Gill and Agarwal opening and Hanuma Vihari making way for the newly-appointed Test vice-captain.

Former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar, on the other hand, had suggested that the team management should have Rohit open with Agarwal and Gill be pushed to the middle order. The former India captain’s thinking was that Agarwal is a quality player and does not deserve the axe. That would have kept Vihari out of the XI.

But according to the report, Agarwal is the one who is set to be axed after registering scores of 17, 9, 0 and 5 in the series so far. The report pointed out Rohit’s record as an opener in Tests and stated that the team-management want him to stay at the top.

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