India’s head coach, Gautam Gambhir, is expected to join the Indian camp in Australia on Tuesday, 3 December, after a week-long break. Gambhir flew back home on 26 November due to personal reasons. Between these seven days, Gambhir missed a two-day practice match between India and Australia’s Prime Minister XI.
The first match of the BGT 2024-25 in Perth ended on 25 November, which gave India a 10-day window to the Indian team’s management for strategic preparations for the Pink Ball test in Adelaide, which starts on 6 December.
In Gambhir’s absence, Gambhir’s support staff of Abhishek Nayar, Ryan ten Doeschate, and Morne Morkel oversaw the team’s training and were present for the Canberra match, which the Indians won by six wickets.
But now that Gambhir will be with the team, he has to be part of the difficult deliberations around India’s playing XI, as Rohit Sharma has rejoined the team after missing the first Test to be with his wife for the birth of their second child, and Gill, who missed the Perth Test after fracturing his right thumb during a training session, is also back.
Even if India replaces Devdutt Padikkal and Dhruv Jurel with Rohit and Gill, the opening combination remains uncertain, with Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul giving management a selection headache after putting on a double-century stand in India’s second innings in Perth.
The pink-ball practice game in Canberra, suggests that Jaiswal and Rahul will continue to open, with Gill replacing Padikkal at No. 3 and Rohit likely moving into the middle order after Virat Kohli.
