India skipper Virat Kohli supported the team management’s decision to ‘rest’ ace spinners Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin. He said that it’s important to distribute the workload of the bowlers and also create a stronger bench strength to choose from for the team management.
Ahead of the first ODI against New Zealand, as quoted in Cricketnext, Virat said, “We need to find out best bowling combinations before the World Cup, we always had in mind to bring wrist spinners. We didn’t want to play both together but now it’s too tempting considering the way they have been playing. It’s also about rhythm and understanding the workload of the bowlers. Ashwin and Jadeja have been playing for the past 6-7 years. We also have to see how much we expose certain bowlers who play for us across formats.”
He further added, “Despite all the talk which is going around, everyone understands the team dynamics going ahead.”
While defending the decision of resting KL Rahul from the squad, Kohli said, “We look to give chances to players who have the ability to perform at this level. At the same time, we have to strike a right balance between youth and experience. DK has come in for KL, because we didn’t want a situation that happened with Jinx(Rahane). He was forced to bat in the middle-order, KL has usually opened for the state team while Karthik bats regularly in the middle-order.”
Indian skipper also praised Rahane for grabbing all the limited opportunities in the top of the order. He said, “He has grabbed his opportunities as third opener, he has stood up and taken his chances. We can play only two openers and he understands the dynamics.”
The ODI series against NZ will also be played with new ICC rules coming into play, and the Virat revealed that the team has had a discussion about it. He said, “There are few rule changes which are quite interesting, guys will need awareness but then we will get used to it. The rule changes certainly make things more exciting and more professional. It helps you focus on what needs to be done during the game.”
When asked about the ICC rankings, Kohli said, “We don’t think of rankings, you can’t be frustrated about such stuff. We want to continue playing good cricket. These things don’t really matter, it’s all about winning, ratings don’t really matter, these are the things which might be rewarding when you look back. We have to focus on the processes and the results.”
Kohli concluded by talking about India’s hectic schedule, he said, “This is New Zealand’s first ODI assignment after the Champions Trophy. Resting and recovery are also important for players, sometimes it can be the difference between doing well in a tournament and not doing well. Our schedule has become quite hectic and it is something that needs to be looked at.”
