As the second test match against New Zealand commences on Thursday, the captain of the Indian cricket team Rohit Sharma’s warm interaction with a female fan is going round on social media. After the schedule of the day was over at the MCA Stadium in Pune, a female fan managed to reach out to Rohit for an autograph and more so to send a message for Kohli. She apparently said, “Rohit bhai, autograph do please.” As the Indian captain went on to sign the autograph, the female fan interjected saying, “Tell Virat that his die-hard fan has come here.” Rohit found the comment funny and immediately said – “I will tell Virat”.
In Pune, India is likely to field an almost complete squad for the second Test against New Zealand as assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate has stated that Rishabh Pant and Shubman Gill are both fit and ready for selection.
Both players are coming back from the injuries that either kept them out completely or restricted them in the first Test which India lost in Bengaluru.
During the first innings of New Zealand, Pant hurt his knee and left the match but did not go back to wicket keeping for the rest of the game. Though Dhruv Jurel took over his position as the wicket keeper, India expects that though the match will be played in Pune, Pant will be fit enough to play his role.
“Well, I think everyone is perfectly fine. There was not too much bowling in that first Test, so all the fast bowlers are okay. Rishabh is fairly okay too,” Ryan told the media while giving the pre-match conference on Tuesday. “I think it is Rohit Sharma who spoke about this the other day. Towards the end range of motion of his knee, he was experiencing a little bit of discomfort. But fingers crossed he will be able to keep in this Test too.”
Shubman Gill, who was unable to play in the first Test due to neck pain, has also been on the mend. With an injury of his own, he was batting last week in Bangalore and did a few nets, the assistant coach explained to Gill. “He’s got a little bit of discomfort but I’ll think he will be good to go for the Test.”
Ryan also stated that there are no worries over KL Rahul’s form at the moment but accepted that there is stiff competition for places within the team. Rahul was playing terribly in the Bengaluru Test match as he scored a duck in the first innings and played 12 runs in the second innings.
However, the return of Gill poses an important selection dilemma to India especially in the batting section. Sarfaraz Khan, who came in place of Gill for the Bengaluru Test made good use of the chance given to him by scoring a brilliant 150. That performance only complicates the middle-order situation for India, especially with the state of Rahul’s form being in such a questioning position.
