“It’s sad to say, but I think he has to sit out,” Dinesh Karthik picks who will make way for Rohit Sharma, if available, in the second Test against Bangladesh

Indian cricketer Dinesh Karthik has named a player whom he thinks will make way for skipper Rohit Sharma, if available, in the second Test against Bangladesh. He feels that young Shubman Gill has to sit out as KL Rahul is the incumbent opener and the vice-captain of the team.

“It’s sad to say, but I think Shubman Gill has to sit out,” says Dinesh Karthik

The second Test between Bangladesh and India is slated to take place on Thursday (22nd December). The visitors won the first game by the massive margin of 188 runs and would be hoping to replicate the same performance in the second game.

They played the first game in the absence of Rohit Sharma, who was ruled out due to a finger injury. With second game just few days away, there are many speculations if the senior opener will be available for the last game of series or not.

Most hundreds for India in International cricket in 2022:

Rishabh Pant – 3
Virat Kohli – 2
Shubman Gill – 2
Ravindra Jadeja – 2
Suryakumar Yadav – 2

— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) December 16, 2022

However, if skipper attains full fitness ahead of the second game, there’ll be tussle for the opening spot. With Shubman Gill scoring century in the first game and KL Rahul being the best in this format and also vice-captain, it remains to be seen who will make way for skipper.

Dinesh Karthik feels that Gill will be the one making way for Rohit Sharma if he is fit for the second game. He said that Rahul is incumbent opener and cannot be replaced. He said on Cricbuzz:

“It’s sad to say, but I think Shubman Gill has to sit out because KL Rahul is the incumbent opener and the vice-captain of the team. You can’t remove somebody on one performance. So, it would have to be Shubman Gill. I think they will play with the same eleven, but just the one change that Rohit Sharma could come in for Shubman Gill.”

“The good thing that KL did is kept the run rate under three,” says Dinesh Karthik

Dinesh Karthik added that India needs to be persistent with consistent bowling. He lauded KL Rahul keep run rate under check when India failed to take wickets in one phase during the first game. He said:

“As a whole, what the Indian team would have learnt is to persist with consistent bowling. What I mean is yesterday when the Bangladesh openers had a good start, they couldn’t run away with the game. The good thing that KL did is kept the run rate under three. You want a certain sense of control on when wickets are not falling, and that was the good part about India’s bowling yesterday.”