NEW DELHI: India captain Rohit Sharma on Sunday indicated that he might miss the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy Down Under due to personal reasons.
India take on Australia in Perth in the series opener from November 22 and Rohit said that he has his ;fingers crossed’ on his participation.
The BCCI had previously announced the squad for the marquee five-Test series in Australia and named Rohit as skipper and Jasprit Bumrah as his deputy.
While announcing the squad, the Indian cricket board had not mentioned anything about Rohit missing the first Test.
“Not sure whether I will be going, fingers crossed,” Rohit said in the post-match presser after India’s 25-run loss in the third Test to New Zealand in Mumbai.
If Rohit goes on to miss the Perth Test, Bumrah will be the leading the side in that game.
As the Indian team suffered an embarrassing 3-0 whitewash in the Test series at home against New Zealand, the Border-Gavaskar Trophy now has assumed more significance with India and Australia vying to reach the final of the World Test Championship (WTC).
After the shock series loss against the Kiwis at home, Rohit said that the team will quickly look to recover from the defeats and shift their focus on the Australia tour.
“We will focus on (upcoming) Australia series, and not look too far ahead,” Rohit said Test team’s future and his own time left as captain.
After the first Test in Perth that ends on November 26, there will be a gap of 10 days before the Adelaide game, which commences from December 6.
During the break, India are scheduled to play a two-day warm-up game in Canberra.
