NEW DELHI: As India searches for the ideal combination to put the pressure on an injured but renownedly resilient Australia in the day/night Test that begins in Adelaide on Friday, Rohit Sharma will step back to lead from the front.
Making the difficult decision to go down the order to make room for KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal at the top, Rohit is making his comeback from a brief paternity leave. In Perth, Rahul and Jaiswal both performed admirably and contributed significantly to India's greatest victory abroad.
After recovering from a thumb injury, Shubman Gill will rejoin Rohit in the starting lineup.
When they previously traveled, they exceeded all expectations and came out on top, so the resourceful side would prefer the headache of having to rearrange the side than being under-strength.
Rohit stated that he changed his batting position with the team's best interests in mind before to the second Test.
"We want result, we want success. Those two guys at the top they batted brilliantly in Perth. I was watching from home. Rahul was brilliant to watch. He deserves that place at this point in time.
"There is no need to change that now, may be things will be different in future. Personally not easy for me (to move down) but for the team it made a lot of sense," said Rohit adding that he will bat somewhere in the middle.
The visiting Indian team usually gives their finest performance while playing Australia in Australia. They exceeded all expectations to win the series opener in Perth and give Australia their first defeat at the Optus Stadium.
India staged a historic comeback on their most recent trip to Australia after the 36-all-out disaster at the Adelaide Oval, but the visitors are positioned far better this time around after the decisive victory in the first Test.
The visiting team batters, however, face a different task in the day-night game; they must perform at their highest level to counteract the additional seam movement created by the pink ball, particularly during the twilight phase.
Having only lost one of their twelve home day-night Test matches, Australia will be reeling from their humiliation in Perth and will be under pressure to win the series again after a 10-day break.
Rohit, who began opening in 2019 and saw his Test career take off, will bat in the middle order for the foreseeable future.
Following a lean home series against New Zealand, the captain would like to be back among the runs.
His performance in Australia is unimpressive, and he would like to improve that on what is likely to be his final tour there.
The playing eleven will be strengthened by Rohit and Gill at the expense of Dhruv Jurel and Devdutt Padikkal.
Gill, who has recovered from a thumb injury, looked well in the practice match and will bat at the hallowed ground with the confidence that comes from his previous performances in Australia.
The two most encouraging developments with the bat in Perth were Jaiswal's debut Test century in Australia and Virat Kohli's return to form. In Adelaide, both will try to build on those noteworthy victories.
Although the Adelaide surface has always favored the spinners, no changes are anticipated in the bowling department.
However, as they try to level the series, Australia has a lot to worry about. Josh Hazlewood, their top bowler in Perth, is unable to play because of an injury.
He will be replaced by Scott Boland, who is typically accurate and whose relentless off-stump channel bowling can cause problems for the Indian hitters. Boland will be playing his first Test in nearly 18 months.
"Traditionally here there's normally a bit of nip which obviously suits Scotty quite well," Cummins told reporters on Thursday.
"As a captain it's pretty awesome for someone like Scotty to come in. You know he can bowl a huge amount of overs if you need. He's super consistent, he's performed at this level, so he's ready to go."
The vulnerable batting lineup is under increasing pressure to perform well against Jasprit Bumrah and company.
Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne, who are both having difficulty holding onto their spots in the eleven, will be subjected to the most intense scrutiny.
Nathan McSweeney, the opener, would also be anxious to improve on his terrible start.
Mitchell Marsh is still tending to his niggles, so it's unclear if he will bowl in the match.
Squads:
India: Rohit Sharma (C), Jasprit Bumrah, Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Devdutt Padikkal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar
Australia XI: Pat Cummins (C), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Nathan McSweeney, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc
