Key Indian batter who struggled in BGT 2024-25 to train with Ranji Trophy team: Reports

Team India's Test and one-day captain Rohit Sharma is set to train with the Mumbai Ranji Trophy squad from Tuesday, January 14. Mumbai will play their first match in the second leg of the 2024-25 Ranji Trophy against Jammu & Kashmir at the Mumbai Cricket Association ground in BKC from January 23.

Rohit had a miserable Test tour of Australia. In five innings of the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy, he managed a paltry 31 runs, with a best of 10. The 37-year-old opted out of the final Test of the series in Sydney owing to his horrendous form. After India lost the series 3-1, head coach Gautam Gambhir urged the Indian players to feature in domestic cricket.

Before Gambhir, the BCCI had also instructed all the Indian players to feature in the Ranji Trophy unless there were injured or on national duty. As per a report in the Times of India, Rohit will train with the Mumbai Ranji Trophy team from Tuesday. A source was quoted as telling TOI:

"Rohit, Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer, and Shardul Thakur will train with the Mumbai team at the Wankhede Stadium on Tuesday, and then at the BKC on Wednesday and Thursday. Rohit has told the MCA that he will come for practice. At the moment, there are all indications that he’s keen to play the match versus J&K."

Mumbai are third in the points table in Group A of the Ranji Trophy. They have played five matches, winning three and losing one, while one game ended in a draw. Mumbai began their campaign with an 84-run loss to Baroda but recovered with a nine-wicket win over Maharashtra. After a draw against Tripura, they hammered Odisha by an innings and 103 runs and beat Services by nine wickets.

---

Rohit Sharma was not the only Indian batter to struggle in the Test series in Australia

While Rohit had a miserable Test tour of Australia, a number of other Indian batters also found the going extremely tough. Virat Kohli scored a hundred in the second innings of the first Test in Perth. The 36-year-old, though, ended the series with 190 runs from nine innings at an average of 23.75.

KL Rahul began well but ended up with 276 runs from 10 innings at an average of 30.67. Keeper-batter Rishabh Pant also disappointed, with 255 runs from nine innings at an average of 28.33. Shubman Gill had another poor overseas Test tour. In five innings, he totaled 93 runs at an average of 18.60.