Indian cricket team coach Gautam Gambhir will be flying back home from Australia on Tuesday, November 26 due to 'personal reasons' but will rejoin the squad ahead of the pink-ball Test, that starts from December 6 in Adelaide, a report in The Indian Express stated. (Day 4 Highlights | Scorecard | More Cricket News)
"Gambhir has informed us that he will be travelling back home and will join the team before the start of the second Test. He has cited personal reasons and the BCCI has accepted his request," a BCCI source was quoted in The Indian Express.
India defeated Australia on day four of the 1st Test in Perth, winning by 295-runs and taking a crucial 1-0 lead in the five-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy series.
Ahead of the second Test, the Indian team will be travelling to Canberra on Wednesday, November 27, to play a two-day pink-ball tour game, that will start from Saturday.
The report in The Indian Express further states that in the absence of Gambhir, the support staff consisting of the likes of Abhishek Nayar and Ryan ten Doeschate, bowling coach Morne Morkel and fielding coach T Dilip will be overseeing the training sessions alongside regular skipper Rohit Sharma, who arrived on Australian shores on Sunday.
Rohit, who missed the 1st Test after the birth of his second child, was seen practicing with the pink-ball in Perth on Monday.
He was seen batting in the nets during the lunch session on Monday as he faced reserve pacers Navdeep Saini, Yash Dayal and Mukesh Kumar with the Pink Ball, which will be in use during the second Test, a day/nighter in Adelaide starting December 6.
“And just during the lunch break here at the nets, we’ve got captain of India Rohit Sharma, who’s just arrived in the country,” said former Australian opener and Fox commentator David Warner.
“He is looking nice and sharp against his fellow countrymen here in the nets. We’ve got a few of the Indian fast bowlers bowling towards the captain ahead of the pink ball Test match starting the 6th of December in Adelaide. As we just see there Mukesh Kumar sending down a nice delivery. But it’s great to see the captain here and we’re looking forward to seeing him back out on the park here on Australian soil,” Warner said on Fox Cricket.
Rohit is expected to play the game in Canberra as the pink Kookaburra in Adelaide offers a different kind of challenge for the batters especially in the famous twilight hour when the ball is known to jag around more than usual.
India Squad
Rohit Sharma (C), Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant (WK), Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar.
Travelling reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed.
