Australia vs India 2018-19, Fourth Test: 2 players who can replace Rohit Sharma in the Playing XI

India pulled off a historic win against Australia in the Boxing Day Test match to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. India will now look to seal the series in Sydney where they will be taking on Australia in the final match of the series.

Rohit Sharma will miss the final Test match as he will be travelling to India to attend the birth of his child. It will be the second game that he will be missing in the series. Hanuma Vihari replaced the injured Rohit Sharma for the second Test match at Perth. Coming off a win, it will be interesting to see how the team management would tackle Rohit's absence for the final game.

On that note, here are two players who could replace Rohit Sharma in the playing XI at Sydney.

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Hardik Pandya

After the loss at Perth, the Indian team included all-rounder Hardik Pandya for the final two games against Australia. In his return match after the injury layoff, Hardik was impressive in the Ranji game he played for Baroda. However, Pandya was not included in the playing XI for the third Test.

Pandya is a good No.6 batsman and can be an additional bowling option too. With no risk of losing the series, it would be wise to reduce the burden on the pacers of the Indian team keeping in mind their upcoming commitments.

Hardik has the potential to develop into a world-class all-rounder in Tests. He needs more opportunities with the bat to prove himself. At No.6 or No.7, Hardik's batting abilities can be tested in the upcoming game. He can bat with the tailenders and accumulate some crucial runs for the team.

KL Rahul

KL Rahul could be lucky to get another game in the series

The fitness of Ravichandran Ashwin is still a concern and Rohit Sharma's replacement would be based on that. Parthiv Patel may not be given his first game of the series in the final match of the tournament.

Hanuma Vihari was used as the make-shift opener in the third Test match. Both the regular openers were dropped for the previous game and Vihari did a decent job as a makeshift opener. However, considering the fact that Vihari's contribution would be important in the next game, he might be moved back to his comfortable middle-order position.

If Ashwin is not fit, India could well go ahead with giving one more chance to the out-of-form openers in the final game of the series. The management may have to make a decision between KL Rahul and Murali Vijay for the same.

Vijay is in the latter stages of his career and giving KL another final chance could be on the mind of Virat Kohli. KL is a class player who is in the worst form of his career. His confidence could be improved by a spot in the upcoming game. Although it is unlikely, KL cannot find an easier partner to open the innings than his best friend Mayank Agarwal.