With Rohit Sharma playing, it was a little surprising to see Ishan Kishan and Shubman Gill open the innings for India during the first ODI against West Indies. However, Rohit not opening was just the first of several surprises.
For the first time in several years, Rohit batted as low as seventh while Virat Kohli was penciled in at No.8 with the likes of Shardul Thakur, Hardik Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav batting ahead.
The Indian team went a step ahead after taking a 1-0 lead. They benched Rohit and Kohli for the second match and included Sanju Samson along with Axar Patel in the eleven.
India produced a poor show with the bat as they were bundled out for 181 before Windies chased down the middling target to draw level.
With India experimenting so close to major events including Asia Cup and the all-important ODI World Cup, questions are being asked why now?
India head coach Rahul Dravid isn’t bothered about the opinions of others and defended the decisions saying the few ODIs the team has before the two big tournaments are their only chance to test players other than those who are a surety in the playing XI.
“Honestly, this was our last chance to be able to try out some of our players,” Dravid said during a post-match interaction with the media. “We have got few of our players who are injured, are in the NCA. With a month to go for the Asia Cup, we are kind of running out of time in a lot of ways. And we are hopeful that some of them will be fit for the Asia Cup and the World Cup. But we can’t take those chances, we have to try out other people and give them chances so that in worst case scenario they at least have game time behind them.”
“It gives us the opportunity to make some decisions on players. Honestly in a series like this with only 2-3 matches to go before the Asia Cup, playing Virat and Rohit would have not given us too many answers. But with the injuries we have in the NCA and some uncertainty around them, we just wanted to give others a chance if they’re required, we can play them,” he added.
Dravid though admitted that it was what he was expecting from the 2nd ODI the way his batters failed on what was a tricky pitch. He added the team was 50-60 runs short of what would have been a competitive total.
“We are not worried about opinions of the others. It’s just that these are the talented boys we have in the country – they have all performed. It’s up to them to take the opportunity. It was disappointing today, we knew it was a tricky, not as easy wicket to bat on. We knew we needed to get somewhere to 230-240 and it would have been a competitive score. We kept losing wickets in bunches, got a really good start but needed someone to carry on till the end. We were 50-60 runs short,” Dravid said.
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