India announced Wednesday that Rohit Sharma will open the batting in the third Test against Australia in Sydney. India also announced their playing XI for the third Test with Rohit replacing Mayank Agarwal in the openers’ slot and Navdeep Saini set to make his debut, coming in place of the injured Umesh Yadav. The rest of the line-up remained the same as the Melbourne Test. Rohit was added to the squad for the last two Tests after he completed his quarantine in Sydney. He was also named vice-captain for the remaining two games.
Rohit, who missed the limited-overs series and the first two Tests due to his rehabilitation from an injury sustained during the Indian Premier League, only linked up with the rest of the team late in December 2020.
He replaces Agarwal, Rohit’s batting partner for India’s home Tests in 2019, after Agarwal returned scores of 17, 9, 0 and 5 in the first two Tests.
