Indian skipper Rohit Sharma’s struggles with the bat continued as he failed to play a big inning in his first outing in Ranji Trophy after nine years.The right-handed batter returned to domestic cricket following his dismal outing in the Test home series against New Zealand last year, followed by his disastrous run against Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.Rohit Sharma could amass just 31 runs across five innings of the series at an average of 6.2. He played three out of the five Border-Gavaskar Tests, having missed the first due to personal reasons while he ‘opted out’ of the final Test due to his form woes.

India lost the five-game Border-Gavaskar Trophy series 1-3, leading the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to make all-round changes in its cricketing structure. Among the newly-introduced measures, the BCCI made it mandatory for players to participate in domestic cricket to be considered for selection in the Indian national side. Following the BCCI measures, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and other top Indian players confirmed their availability for the second half of the ongoing Ranji Trophy.

The Indian captain made his first appearance for Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy nine years after his last appearance in the tournament.However, Rohit Sharma disappointed in his first outing in his team’s game against Jammu and Kashmir at BKC Ground, Mumbai. The Indian captain could manage to score just three runs off 19 deliveries before he was dismissed by young bowler Umar Nazir.Nazir bowled a length delivery, leading Rohit Sharma to got after him, however, the ball got a leading edge to hand Paras Dogra a simple catch at mid-off.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)