Rohit Sharma to remain at No.6 as Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul expected to open in upcoming third Test; Captain Kohli offers motivating words

During India's first practice session at the Gabba in Brisbane on Thursday, it became clear that captain Rohit Sharma will likely continue to bat at No.6, with KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal slated to open in the upcoming third Test starting Saturday (December 14). This decision follows a bold move by Rohit to drop down the order from his opening position in order to accommodate Rahul at the top of the order, after Rahul's impressive performance in the previous match.

The move did not yield results as neither Rahul nor Rohit got runs in their new positions. Rahul looked good in the first innings but was dismissed for 37 and in the second innings, he got out to a Pat Cummins bouncer for 7. Rohit, on the other hand, did not seem comfortable at all at No.6. Batting for the first time in the middle-order in six years, Rohit struggled against the moving pink ball. Scott Boland trapped him lbw in the first innings for 3, while Australia skipper Pat Cummins brought an end to his short but agonising stay in the innings for 6.

However, it appears that India are likely to stick with the same batting line-up at the Gabba. Rahul and Jaiswal were the first ones to have a hit in the practice session on Thursday. Rohit, however, entered the nets earlier than last time. He replaced Rahul and batted for some time before the latter went for another round of batting practice.

India's training began with a pep talk from Virat Kohli. The former India captain was seen delivering an animated speech to the team. Later, he had a long and intense batting session, nothing unusual from what he had been doing throughout the tour. He had conversations with assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate, trying to make sure he had a handle on exactly how he was reacting to certain kinds of deliveries. He has got out to similar deliveries in Perth and Adelaide.

Jasprit Bumrah was in full mentor mode, giving Nitish Kumar Reddy some pointers on how to get the weight going in the right direction and get more pace into his delivery. The all-rounder has impressed one and all with his batting prowess lower down the order but his bowling needs to come good in order for India to strike the right balance.

Mohammed Siraj, who grabbed the spotlight for his heated altercation with Travis Head in Adelaide, spent a lot of time with India's video analyst Hari and bowling coach Morne Morkel, trying to perfect his release points to extract more swing.