Melbourne [Australia], December 25: Indian captain Rohit Sharma is expected to open the batting for India in the upcoming fourth Test against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) starting Thursday, according to reports.
KL Rahul, who has been in solid form as an opener, could be moved to number three. Rahul, India’s leading run-scorer in the series so far, has accumulated 235 runs in three matches, averaging 47.00 with two fifties, including a best score of 84. His calm and patient approach at the crease has been instrumental in seeing off the new ball.
Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma has struggled in the middle order during the ongoing series. Since his return to the team for the Adelaide pink-ball Test, Rohit moved down the order, with the successful opening pair of Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul. However, he managed only 19 runs in three innings at number six, with a top score of 10. Despite this, Rohit has a solid record as a middle-order batsman, averaging 48.00 in 18 Tests with over 1,000 runs, including three centuries and six fifties.
In this Test season, which began with the home series against Bangladesh, Rohit has struggled with just 152 runs in seven matches at an average of 11.69. In 2024, he has scored 607 runs in 13 Tests at a modest average of 26.39.
Since moving to open the batting in 2019, Rohit has been one of India’s most successful Test openers. In 42 Tests, he has scored 2,685 runs at an average of 44.01, including nine centuries and eight fifties. He has also been a key performer in the ICC World Test Championship, accumulating 2,704 runs at an average of 42.25.
With the series tied at 1-1, the Boxing Day Test is crucial for both teams as they vie for an important series lead, which could influence their chances for the ICC World Test Championship final.
Australia XI: Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Mitch Marsh, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland
India Squad for Fourth and Fifth Tests: Rohit Sharma (C), Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant (WK), Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Ravindra Jadeja, Mohd. Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Devdutt Padikkal, Tanush Kotian.