“Why should he be touched,” Aakash Chopra reveals whether Shubman Gill will replace Rohit Sharma as opener
Former India opener, Aakash Chopra opined on Shubman Gill being promoted to the opening position to replace Rohit Sharma.
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Shubman Gill, Aakash Chopra (Via X)
The Indian captain, Rohit Sharma, has not travelled with the team to Australia for the upcoming five-match Test series in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024/25. As per reports, he will miss the first Test in Perth due to personal reasons. Jasprit Bumrah is set to replace him as the captain in the first Test match since he is the vice-captain of the Test side. However, it is still not sure who will replace Sharma as the opener in the team if he misses out. However, former India opener, Aakash Chopra has said that Shubman Gill will not be promoted to the opening position to replace Sharma.
Chopra recalled that the head coach, Gautam Gambhir, talked about KL Rahul and Abhimanyu Easwaran as the backup openers during the press conference before leaving for Australia. Rahul has batted in the middle order in Tests in the last two years but he started off his career as an opener in the side. He was also sent to Australia ahead of the series to play for India A where he opened the innings for the team.
The second big question was who would open. He said they have two options in Abhimanyu Easwaran and KL Rahul, which tells me they are not thinking about Shubman Gill. I had floated the idea that you could try opening with Shubman Gill but he said he should continue doing what he is doing and why should he be touched. It’s alright
Aakash Chopra said in his YouTube channel
Gill also started off his Test career as an opener and also opens the innings in white-ball cricket. However, after the WTC Final in 2023, India moved away from Cheteshwar Pujara and Gill replaced him at number three. He has settled in that spot well with good scores against England, Bangladesh and New Zealand.
Aakash Chopra has no doubts that Jasprit Bumrah will replace Rohit Sharma as the captain in his unavailability
The former India opener feels that it is a no-brainer that Bumrah will replace the Hitman as captain given that he is the vice-captain of the side.
Gill opened the innings for the first time during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in 2020-21 in Australia. He scored 259 runs at an average of 51.80. Gill has scored 874 runs in 29 Test innings, with two centuries and four half-centuries, while opening the innings in Test cricket.
Meanwhile, India are coming into this Test series after a 3-0 whitewash loss against New Zealand. However, they have won the Test series in the last two tours of Australia. The Aussies have not won the BGT since the home series in 2014-15.
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Rohit Sarkar
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