Indian head coach Gautam Gambhir is set to join the Indian team in Australia as he has already left India for Australia. With his return, the Indian team is completely ready for the remainder of the ongoing Test series in Australia. 

While the skipper Rohit Sharma missed out on the five-match Test series opener against Australia (Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25), head coach Gautam Gambhir missed the invitational practice match against Prime Minister’s XI. Rohit was on parental leave and Gambhir returned to India due to personal reasons. 

Watch: What happened when Rohit Sharma met this desperate fan?

Rohit and Gambhir have returned

In the absence of Rohit, Jasprit Bumrah led India in the Test series opener at Perth Stadium, where India took a 1-0 lead in the series after dominantly winning the match by 295 runs. Rohit just returned to the Test squad after the beginning of the Perth Test. He was present at the invitational day-night pink-ball practice match against Prime Minister’s XI, where the Indians won the match.

Meanwhile, Gambhir returned to India after the Test series opener. However, as previously reported, the former Indian cricketer has left India for Australia to join the team as a head coach. In his absence, Abhishek Nayar, Morne Morkel, and Ryan ten Doeschate handled the team. 

India and Australia are getting ready for the pink-ball Test

According to the previously reported schedule, the team India would land in Adelaide on Monday (December 2). Adelaide Oval will host the second Test of the series, which will be the only day-night pink ball Test match in this series. As the pink-ball Test match is still far from acceptable outside Australia, the pink-ball practice match was important for the visitors India. 

While Australia have played 12 day-night pink-ball Tests before, they won their first 11 Tests before losing the last one against West Indies last January at the Gabba. On the other hand, India have experienced four pink-ball Tests, where they dominantly won all three home Tests but lost against Australia at Adelaide Oval in their previous Australia tour, where India were all out for 36 runs.