The Indian limited-overs skipper, Rohit Sharma has explained the reason behind Rishabh Pant coming out to open the innings alongside him in the second ODI against West Indies. Sharma stated that the Men in Blue wanted to experiment with the options they have at hand. The move didn’t reap dividends though, with the young wicket-keeper batsman scoring only 18 runs off 34 balls.
When asked about the ‘shocking’ move, Rohit Sharma explained, “I’ve been asked to do different things, trying out Pant to open was something that we tried today, not a permanent solution but we wanted to try out something unique today. We’re going to get Shikhar back in the next game, he’s going to get his game time but ultimately, we have to keep trying out different things. We don’t mind losing games here and there but we want to keep experimenting.”
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For those who aren’t aware, Shikhar Dhawan tested positive for COVID-19 a few days ahead of the commencement of the ODI series against the West Indies. Although he was available for selection in the second ODI, the management decided to give the veteran opener more rest. With KL Rahul back in the middle-order, India showed spine after being reduced to 43/3 within 12 overs. Rahul and Suryakumar Yadav made a brilliant 91-run partnership for the fourth wicket to resurrect India’s innings.
Praising the performance of Rahul and Suryakumar, Rohit Sharma said, “I thought the partnership between KL and Surya, they showed a lot of maturities there, that is what we want when you lose wickets up front, you need guys to step up and we got to a fighting total in the end. It was important to get to a good score and the bowling had to turn up which it did, I’m quite pleased with that. It’s important for the middle order to do well in such a situation.”
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He further elaborated, “The kind of knock of Surya played today, will give him a lot of confidence, he couldn’t just go through with his shots, he had to bide his time and then play a very matured innings today. Also, the way KL batted, really impressed as well, it wasn’t easy for him, he’s been moved around the batting order a lot but he showed a lot of composure today.”
Deepak Hooda’s late cameo helped the home side post 237 runs on the board which ultimately proved to be too much for the visitors. Prasidh Krishna was the pick of the bowlers for India as he sclaped four wickets for just 12 runs from his nine overs. Shardul Thakur also managed a couple of wickets as the visitors fell 44 runs short.
Talking about the bowling performance, Rohit Sharma said. “it’s been some time I’ve seen someone bounce out batters like that on India pitches. Prasidh kept relentless pressure on the batters and he did splendidly well today, we wanted to get wickets and he did with ease with tonight.”
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Rohit Sharma concluded, “I wanted to keep Prasidh for backend as well, because they had power hitters down the order for some late hitting. So [I] shuffled the bowling around nicely. When you have five bowlers and Hooda being the sixth, it’s always nice to have an extra cushion to have.”
