Indian captain Rohit Sharma may have to sit out of the Men in Blue’s third league stage match in the Champions Trophy owing to a hamstring injury. Rohit Sharma had suffered a hamstring pull while chasing a ball against Pakistan last Sunday. While the Indian captain struggled on the field and left the ground at the end of 26th over, he did return during the later half of Pakistan innings. Later on, Sharma also came in to open the innings for India and scored 20 runs (off 15 balls) before being dismissed by Shaheen Afridi.
Rohit Sharma’s injury concern:
Concerns over Rohit Sharma’s injury emerged almost two days after India’s win over Pakistan last Sunday, according to media reports. The Indian captain was reportedly the only player not to attend the Men in Blue’s training session in Dubai on Wednesday, instead focusing on discussing strategy with coach Gautam Gambhir.
Notably, both India and New Zealand have already qualified for the semi-finals of the Champions Trophy after the Pakistan-Bangladesh match was washed out due to rain. With that in mind, it is likely that the Indian team management will want to rest Rohit Sharma for the upcoming match and give other youngsters a chance.
What happens if Rohit Sharma misses the match due to injury?
Notably, Indian team had dropped Yashasvi Jaiswal just ahead of the Champions Trophy, meaning they don’t have a backup opener to replace skipper Rohit Sharma.
Media reports suggest both Rishabh Pant and Washington Sundar spent a lot of time in the nets, suggesting one of these two players could be inducted in the side to replace the Indian captain. Meanwhile, if Rohit missed the match against New Zealand on Sunday, it is almost certain that KL Rahul will open the innings along with Shubman Gill. Gill could also be given the added responsibility of leading India in Rohit’s absence.
India’s probable XI in Rohit Sharma’s absence?
KL Rahul, Shubman Gill (c), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, Rishabh Pant/ Washington Sundar, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Shami.
