Rohit Sharma likely to head home mid-way through Test series

The Indian cricket team suffered a heavy 146-run loss against Australia in the second Test of the five-match series held in Perth. The series is now tied 1-1 with the third Test set to begin on Boxing Day at the MCG in Melbourne.

The squad for the third and fourth Tests was announced yesterday and there were a few big changes with Mayank Agarwal replacing the injured Prithvi Shaw, who will miss the remainder of the Test series. Hardik Pandya was called up as well after proving his fitness in the Ranji Trophy.

Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma was included in the squad for the next two Tests, however, if reports emerging from India Today are to be believed, he will fly back home to attend to his wife, Ritika Sajdeh, who is due to give birth to their first child soon.

Rohit had also suffered a minor back injury which kept him out of action from the 2nd Test. He did not have a great outing in the first Test held in Adelaide, scoring just 38 runs in the entire game.

He was replaced by Hanuma Vihari, who looked a lot more confident while batting, in the second Test. There is no confirmation as to when exactly he will fly back to India and hence, nobody knows whether he will play the third Test in Melbourne.

Meanwhile, Mayank Agarwal might make his much-awaited debut at the top of the order after numerous failures from the bat of both KL Rahul and Murali Vijay. Agarwal was included in the Test squad for the home series against the Windies a couple of months ago but did not get to play a single game. He has been in great form in the domestic circuit for Karnataka and has been scoring plenty of runs for India A as well.