Former Indian opener Gautam Gambhir was not impressed when full-time skipper Rohit Sharma decided to rest against Afghanistan in the team’s final match of the Asia Cup 2022. Gambhir stated that Rohit has already rested enough and he should play every match till the T20 World Cup.
KL Rahul, the team’s vice-captain, lead in Rohit’s place against Afghanistan on Thursday in Dubai. Rohit was rested for the ODI series against West Indies and also didn’t play in the ODI series against Zimbabwe. Furthermore, the right-hander was rested for the five-match T20I series against South Africa after the IPL and also didn’t take part in the two-match series against Ireland.
India made three changes against Afghanistan to their playing XI with Rohit, Yuzvendra Chahal, and Hardik Pandya sitting out for Deepak Chahar, Axar Patel, and Dinesh Karthik.
Gambhir said on Star Sports, “You cannot be resting, you have already rested enough – In my opinion, Rohit Sharma should be playing every game from here on looking at the T20 World Cup.”
On the other hand, in the absence of Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul and Virat Kohli opened the innings for India. Gambhir feels Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul should be the team’s openers in the T20 World Cup while Kohli should bat at one down.
Meanwhile, Rahul revealed that Rohit Sharma wanted a break for the Afghanistan game.
“Rohit just wants to take a break considering the tough conditions here, and the World Cup ahead. We’re trying to finalize the roles that each individual will play in the World Cup,” Rahul told the broadcasters after losing the toss.
On the other hand, Virat Kohli finally broke his century jinx after a long gap of 1020 days as he scored a fine knock of 122 runs off just 61 balls against Afghanistan. This is Kohli’s 71st International hundred and his first in the shortest format of the game for India.
