'He deserves that place': Rohit Sharma confirms middle-order return with opening partnership poised to go unchanged

Rohit Sharma has given insight into India's batter order for the second Test in Adelaide, confirming that he will slot into the middle order for his return match.

Sharma missed the start of the West Test to stay in India and attend the birth of his second child.

With Sharma incorporated into the middle order and the tourists' opening partnership from Perth likely to stay the same, the pieces are beginning to fall into place.

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In India's second innings in Perth, Sharma's replacement at the top, KL Rahul, put together a 201-run opening stand alongside Yashasvi Jaiswal.

In stark contrast, during the Prime Minister's XI over the weekend, captain Sharma was dismissed for just 3 runs.

Speaking to media on Thursday, Sharma acknowledged that the opening partnership was the main contributor to the country's 295-run victory and admitted that he is reluctant to be the cause of its break up.

With right-hander Shubman Gill also likely to come in at No.3 after he too missed the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series opener with a thumb injury, Sharma will likely bat down the order for the first time in six years.

"[Rahul] will be opening the batting. I'll be somewhere in the middle," Sharma said.

"Those two guys at the top — just looking at this one Test match [in Perth] — they batted brilliantly.

"I was at home with my newborn in my arms and I was watching how KL batted and it was brilliant, to be honest. I felt there was no need to change that now.

"Maybe in the future things will be different, I don't know."

Rahul scored a tolerant 26 while chaos waged around him in the first innings before a solid 77 in the match-winning second innings — adding to his unique form overseas.

Since Rahul's return to red-ball cricket in 2021, he has averaged 90.7 balls per dismissal in Tests outside of Asia. This is the best among all Indian batters in this period.

"Based on what has happened and what KL has shown outside of India, he probably deserves that place at this point in time," Sharma said.

"It is something that has given us success in the first Test to have that partnership with Jaiswal. It probably won us the Test match. When you come here to a place like Perth and you get [nearly] 500 runs, it's a massive tick of the box.

"I don't see the need to change that. It was actually pretty simple for me – personally not easy — but for the team, it made a lot of sense."

Sharma also left the door open for Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja to return to the side after implying Washington Sundar's shock inclusion for the first Test was conditions-based.

If neither of the legendary spin pair takes to the field in Adelaide, it will mark the first time in their decade-long careers that they both have been omitted for consecutive Tests.

With Sharma insisting that the duo still have a "huge role" to play in the series, Washington's place could be under threat.

"What they bring to the table will never be written off," he said.

Devdutt Padikkal and Dhruv Jurel, who batted at No.3 and No.6 respectively in Perth, appear as the likely omissions for Sharma and Gill to retake their spots.

The pink-ball Test gets under way at 3pm AEDT on Friday.