Hard to see a player like Rohit sitting outside: Ajinkya Rahane

After whitewashing the Test series in West Indies, India's Test vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane said it was difficult to see a player like Rohit Sharma being benched for two Test matches against the Caribbeans last month.

Rohit is being considered as an opening option for the upcoming Test matches against South Africa, and Rahane, who smashed a century and two fifties in West Indies, was glad about it.

"I don't know yet if Rohit will open the innings. If he does then I'm really happy for him," Espn Cricinfo quoted Rahane as saying.

"In West Indies also it's actually hard to see a player like Rohit sitting outside. He works so hard, he's been with the Test team for long now, so if he gets an opportunity I'll be really happy for him and I'm sure he will do well," Rahane added.

Chief selector MSK Prasad had previously clarified that India was going to give Rohit the chance to open, as KL Rahul who opened in the last series, had been dropped from the side.

Rohit has played 27 matches in the longest format of the game. The right-handed batsman has scored 1585 runs with an average of 39.62.

India squad for 3 Tests: Virat Kohli (Captain), Mayank Agarwal, Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (Wicket-keeper), Wriddhiman Saha (Wicket-keeper), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Shubman Gill.