India captain Rohit Sharma has now been ruled out of the second Test match against Bangladesh. While earlier he was not available for the first Test match and a call on his availability for the Dhaka Test had to be taken on a later date, a report carried by Cricbuzz claims that the 35-year-old will not play the second Test after it was found out that his thumb, which he had injured in the second ODI against Bangladesh, hasn't healed completely.
In Rohit's absence, vice-captain KL Rahul, who led India to victory in the opening Test match at Chattogram, will continue to lead the team in the second Test. The said report suggests that while the Indian opener would have managed to bat had he played, there were concenrs especially with the risks involved while fielding. Notably, it was while attempting to take a catch at slips that Rohit had sustained the injury.
India 1-0 up in the 2-match series
Notably, India have taken a 1-0 lead in the 2-match Test series. While they posted 404 batting first with the help of half-centuries from Cheteshwar Pujara, Shreyas Iyer and R Ashwin in the first innings with the off-spinner being ably supported by Kuldeep Yadav (40), the India bowlers bundled the hosts out for 150 with Kuldeep returning with a fifer. Shubman Gill and Pujara then scored a hundred each in India's second innings as they declared their innings at 258-2, setting a target of 513 runs for the Banga Tigers.
In the fourth innings, the home team did put up a fight with debutant Zakir Hasan scoring a hundred and Shakib Al Hasan also scoring 84 but India managed to bowl the opposition out for 324, completing a win by 188 runs. Axar Patel picked 4 wickets and Kuldeep scalped 3 in the second innings and it was the latter who was adjudged the Player of the Match, with the left-arm leggie finishing with 7 wickets in the match and a handy contribution with the bat.