Rohit Sharma, India Cricket, India vs Pakistan, Champions Trophy
India opener Rohit Sharma.IANS

Indian opener Rohit Sharma missed the Champions Trophy warm-up game against New Zealand on Sunday. The Mumbai batsman did not fly with the Indian team last week as he had to attend a cousin's wedding. 

The player has now reached England and is expected to play against Bangladesh on Tuesday in the second and last practice match ahead of their first match against archrivals Pakistan on Sunday.

This match is going to be of utmost importance to Rohit, who will open the innings for India in the ICC event.

Rohit has not played international cricket for India since October 2016 after he picked up a thigh injury against New Zealand.

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So, this Champions Trophy marks Rohit's comeback to international cricket. Though Rohit played an important role in helping Mumbai Indians win IPL 2017, it is a different matter altogether while representing India in England, where the conditions are different.

With Rohit being an opener, he will play an important role for India at the top of the order. He alongside fellow opener Shikhar Dhawan has to keep their wickets intact and score runs at a brisk rate to provide a perfect base for the rest of the batsmen such as Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh. 

Rohit has to make sure that he makes good use of this one-off practice match (for him) on Tuesday ahead of the Pakistan tie by getting some runs under his belt, and carry on the form into their opening clash. If Rohit has a good Champions Trophy, India will be in the driver's seat.