Rohit Sharma to join Indian team in Melbourne, MCG could host third Test instead of Sydney: Report

Rohit Sharma will fly to Melbourne from Sydney on Wednesday to join up with the Indian cricket team, ANI reported on Monday. He will enter the team’s bio bubble ahead of the third Test.

“Yes, he will be flown to Melbourne by CA on Wednesday as the third game is almost set to take place at the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground) with an eye on the coronavirus outbreak,” an official told ANI.

Sharma was completing his quarantine period in Sydney after arriving in the country on December 16. However due to growing Covid-19 cases in Sydney, Cricket Australia is contemplating shifting the third Test to Melbourne.

Cricket Australia’s interim CEO Nick Hockley had earlier said that the board had contingency plans if the situation in Sydney worsened and seem set to make a move.

“Should the public health situation in NSW render playing in Sydney untenable, CA’s preferred contingency plan is to work with the Victorian Government to play the third Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground followed by the fourth Test at the Gabba,” CA had said.

Rohit Sharma’s addition to the team will be a big boost to the side who are in a strong position to level the four-match series in Melbourne.

The opening batsman has been missing from action since the IPL final as he has been nursing a hamstring injury and only arrived in Australia after he cleared his fitness test at the National Cricket Academy.

It will be his first Test match for over a year, but Sharma enjoyed his best run in the longest format in 2019. He has three hundreds in his last six innings since being used as an opener in Tests against South Africa.

Mayank Agarwal or Shubman Gill could make way for Rohit Sharma for the third Test. While Agarwal has been India’s first-choice opener in Tests, he has failed to have a mark in the opening two game so far. Gill, on the other hand, impressed on his debut with a gutsy knock of 45 in the first innings at the MCG.