Rohit Sharma ls himself at 5 to potentially play a new role for India

After missing out on the first Test match of the Border Gavaskar Trophy in Perth owing to the birth of his second child, Rohit Sharma marked his competitive return on Day 2 of India’s pink-ball practice game in Canberra against the Australia Prime Miner’s XI.
Though he will take the captaincy back from Jasprit Bumrah, who led India to victory in the first Test of the series in Perth, Rohit’s batting position is up for debate after the makeshift opening duo of Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul put on 295-run stand in the second innings in Perth.
In a surprise move on Sunday, the 37-year-old Indian opener did not turn up at his regular slot against the PM XI, who put 240 runs on the board in a curtailed 46-overs-a-side game due to rain interruptions.
Rohit has led himself at 5 on the team sheet after he won the toss and opted to field. It was expected that after the break after the New Zealand series, he would look to use this game to adapt to conditions ahead of the Day-Night Test in Adelaide starting from December 6.
With Shubman Gill also likely to return, India could be experimenting with a different batting position for the Indian captain, one he is all too familiar with from the early days of his red-ball career.
With Rohit potentially returning to the middle-order in Tests, all he needs to do is tap into the young version of himself, to find the form he would need in that position, and get used to the middle-order role again. The skipper made debut at six in Test match cricket against West Indies and scored a ton on debut in Kolkata in 2013.
Rohit Sharma’s numbers in the middle-order (No. 5 and No. 6)Innings (no.5): 16Innings (no.6): 25
Runs at no.5: 437Runs at no. 6: 1037
Average at no. 5: 29.13Average at no. 6: 54.58
Strike Rate at no. 5: 48.56Strike Rate at no. 6: 60.71