India beat PM’s XI in pink-ball game; Rohit bats at No 4, keeps people guessing

Canberra: Shubman Gill dispelled all doubts about his thumb injury with a stylish fifty even as skipper Rohit Sharma kept cards close to his chest by coming in at No. 4 in India’s curtailed pink-ball warm-up game against Prime Minister’s XI here.The visitors won the match by six wickets. It, however, remains to be seen if the Indian captain would come out to open in the second Test against Australia, starting Friday in Adelaide.It was a 46-overs-a-side affair, which India won by chasing down an easy target of 241 in 42.5 overs, but they carried on batting till the end of the final over. For Australia, Test hopeful Sam Konstas’ 107 off 97 balls went in vain.The Indian team management was tactical in its choices as Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah decided on facing each other at the nets rather than providing data to the Aussie think-tank.Interestingly, Ravichandran Ashwin, who didn’t play the Perth Test, was seen at the nets, mostly bowling to Kohli. Ashwin had a four-wicket haul in the last Pink-ball Test in Adelaide in 2020-21. Ravindra Jadeja, however, got a few overs and also batted for some time.Rohit persisted with the opening combination of Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul, dropping himself down to number four. However, his own game time was limited to 11 deliveries as he edged one to the slips under the night lights.The biggest piece of news for India was Gill’s batting. A cracking square cut first up off seamer Mahli Beardman indicated that his fractured left thumb has completely healed and he is ready to play the Adelaide game.