India vs England 2018: Rohit Sharma passes yo-yo test
Two days of suspense and dilemma regarding Rohit Sharma's position in the one-day side as the results of his yo-yo test were awaited have come to an end, as India's star opener completed the test with a score either at par or beyond the Ravi Shastri's introduced benchmark score of 16.1.
Rohit took to social-media website Instagram to reveal the success of his undertaking. He will now head to Ireland, along with the Indian cricket team, who will start their limited-overs leg of the tour of UK with matches against Ireland, and then the much fabled surging English side.
There was a lot of fretting regarding Rohit's potential availability in the side after he failed to appear for the test on 15th June owing to sponsorship commitments, failed to achieve the required minimum score on 17th June. However, after a day's delay from the final set date of 19th June, he eventually succeeded today, amidst concern of him missing out on much-needed practice in English conditions to familiarize himself in order to be prepared for the World Cup to be held in the UK next year.
However, this will dilute Ajinkya Rahane's World Cup selection chances. He was put on standby for the series, in case Rohit failed to make it. But with the World Cup only a year from now, selectors are likely to stick to the selected group of individuals to feature in the showpiece event next year.
Although he will make for a good backup opener, and in a side with swift run scorers, Rahane's inclusion could come in handy in case India play in seam-friendly conditions, an ecosystem where he is seen to be India's most technically profound batsman. Rohit, nonetheless, has a good record in England. The opener has scored 533 runs in 12 innings, averaging more than 48 with five fifties and a hundred.