India captain Rohit Sharma is likely to be ruled out of the two-match Test series against Bangladesh starting December 14 due to a dislocated thumb. In Rohit’s absence, KL Rahul will step in to lead. India head coach Rahul Dravid has already confirmed that Rohit will miss the third and final ODI against Bangladesh on Saturday. Rohit put in a gallant effort, scoring an unbeaten 51 off 28 balls, coming into bat at No. 9 with a heavily taped left thumb.
The experienced right-hander injured himself trying to catch Bangladesh opener Anamul Haque Bijoy while standing at second slip in the second over of the match. The seasoned opener walked off the field in pain and played no further part in the Bangladesh innings. He was taken for scans which revealed a dislocation but no fracture. Rohit did not open the batting but came to bat at No. 9 and hit five sixes. However, his innings was not enough to get India over the line as the visitors lost the match by five runs to succumb to an ODI series defeat in Bangladesh.
However, the bigger worry for India will be the Test matches. If Rohit does not recover in time, the selectors may decide to call up India A captain Abhimanyu Easwaran as his backup in the team. “Abhimanyu Easwaran has scored hundreds after hundreds in the ongoing A Test series and is the opener. He is most likely to join the team in Chattogram after completing his second A Test in Sylhet,” a BCCI conditions of anonymity.
Easwaran scored back-to-back hundreds in two four-day unofficial Tests against Bangladesh A and was earlier part of the Indian squad for the England tour. It is also understood that Bengal seamer Mukesh Kumar, who has featured consistently for India A, or Umran Malik could replace the injured Mohammed Shami. India’s bowling could look considerably depleted as Ravindra Jadeja, who has not played a single match since undergoing knee surgery, will play Test matches straight away. While Axar Patel is already in the squad, Saurabh Kumar could be called up from the A team as a left-arm batsman if they don’t bring in Suryakumar Yadav.Surya has already confirmed that he will play the second Ranji Trophy match this season in Mumbai.
