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On Wednesday, May 7, Rohit Sharma, the captain of India, made a huge announcement about his future in Test cricket, taking retirement from the format on the social media platform Instagram. The sudden decision from the 38-year-old has left the Indian cricket team in a precarious position, not just in terms of finding a new captain ahead of the all-important five-match Test series, starting in June this year, but also picking a batter who can open in place of him.
In the last six years or so, Rohit Sharma was the linchpin of India’s Test opening, not only providing solid starts against all oppositions in all conditions, but also scoring big runs as well. But his Test career came to a standstill with the bat and as captain in the last few months, which had put his spot in scrutiny in the format, and now, he decided to take retirement altogether.
With that, in this article, SportsTiger looks at three players who can replace Rohit Sharma at the top of the order in Test cricket.
Players who can replace Rohit Sharma in Test cricket
Ruturaj Gaikwad: Ruturaj Gaikwad is one of the top performers in the domestic level in red-ball cricket for quite some time, and he has also been a part of the Indian setup in white-ball cricket over the past couple of years. In his first-class career, the 28-year-old has played 38 matches, scoring 2,632 runs at an reasonable average of 41.77 and a strike-rate of 59.01 with seven hundreds and 14 fifties.
Sai Sudharsan: Sai Sudharsan has been on the heels of the Indian cricket team for the last couple of years, playing a handful of matches in the white-ball formats, and doing well in them. It is the first-class stats of the 23-year-old, which aren’t quite as good as some of his compatriots, but still, he has 1,957 runs to his name in 29 matches at an average of 39.93 and a strike-rate of 55.06 with seven hundreds and five fifties.
Abhimanyu Easwaran: Abhimanyu Easwaran has found himself on the Indian bench in Test cricket in the last few years, without getting the chance to make his debut, mainly because there hasn’t been space for him in the playing XI. But regardless, he has wonderful stats in first-class cricket with 101 matches to his name, scoring 7,674 runs at an average of 48.87 and a strike-rate of 53.74 with 27 hundreds and 29 fifties.
