Border-Gavaskar Trophy: Shubman Gill gets the nod as out-of-form KL Rahul dropped for Indore Test

Shubman Gill has finally got his much-awaited chance as the youngster was picked to open alongside captain Rohit Sharma in the Indore Test afterKL Rahul was dropped from the lineup.

Rahul has been going through a rough patch in international cricket and his run in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy hasn’t been promising as well. India captain Rohit Sharma hinted that the management was ready to give Rahul the long rope.

“Of late, there has been a lot of talk about his batting. For us, as team management, we always look at the potential of any individual, not just KL. I was asked in the past about a lot of players. If a guy has potential, he will get an extended run. Not just KL. If you look at the couple of hundreds he got, especially at Lord’s, batting on that damp pitch. Centurion was another win. Both came in India winning both games. That’s the potential he has,” said Sharma.

The removal of the vice-captaincy tag from Rahul’s name also raised doubts if the opener will be given a spot in the lineup for the third Test.

However, the Indian team management has decided to give the young Gill a chance ahead of the 30-year-old. Gill has been in top form in all three formats for India and will now get a chance to shine.

India made two changes to their side as Sharma won the toss and elected to bat first. Apart from Gill, Umesh Yadav also comes into the side instead of Mohammed Shami, who has been rested.

The team lineups are as follows:

Australia (Playing XI): Usman Khawaja, Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith(c), Peter Handscomb, Cameron Green, Alex Carey(w), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Todd Murphy, Matthew Kuhnemann

India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Ravindra Jadeja, Srikar Bharat(w), Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Siraj