Sharma doesn’t want to read too much into the tactics of the team and stated that he wouldn’t confirm that it is going to be the preferred batting line-up for the T20 World Cup.
Rohit added that KL Rahul has done a fine job for the team in the past and he is one of the key batsmen in the limited-overs format. Thus, he won’t rule out Rahul from the T20 World Cup plans as he can provide a blitzkrieg start to the team with his form. However, Rahul struggled to get going in the series against England as he returned with two ducks and could only score a total of 15 runs in the four innings.
The Indian skipper Virat Kohli has revealed that he would like to partner Rohit Sharma at the top of the order going forward and also hinted that they could be India’s opening pair for the T20 World Cup. The hosts decided to leave out an out-of-form KL Rahul from the decider of the five-match series and played with an extra bowler.
The move paid dividends as Rohit and Virat added a quickfire alliance of 94 runs to lay down the foundation of an above par score of 224 runs. This was the eighth time in 84 innings when Kohli opened the innings for India.
However, India’s limited-overs vice-captain Rohit
Rohit added that the T20 World Cup is still a long way to go and things can turn a lot in the next six months period.
“It’s still a long time for the World Cup, so (it’s) early days to talk about what the batting lineup would be looking like. We just have to analyze and think about what suits the team the most. Today was a tactical move because we wanted an extra bowler to play. We had to leave one batsman out, unfortunately, it was KL, which was very tough.
“KL, we know he’s been one of our key players in the limited-overs format. Looking at the current form the team management decided to go with the best eleven. But having said that it doesn’t send any signal, that KL would not be considered or anything like that. It was just for one particular game,” Rohit said during the online media conference following the fifth T20I.
“As and when we get closer to the World Cup, we do understand his ability, we do understand his contribution at the top, what he’s done for us. I’m not going to rule out anything, neither would I say this is the preferred batting line-up for the World Cup. It’s still early days, we’ve got a good amount of time. There’s the IPL in between, and I’m hearing that there’ll be a few T20Is as well before the World Cup. So good enough time for us, at that point to judge what would be the best eleven for us.
“What I wanted to say is, not to judge on what has happened in these five games. These five games were good for us to judge as individuals, as a team where we stand, but this particular series doesn’t send any signals that this is our perfect eleven. There’s a long way to go.
“We need to see the form of the current players, what is the ideal eleven on certain conditions and certain oppositions that we play. Sometimes you might feel that you need to have six bowlers in your playing eleven, which means you might have to sacrifice a batsman. All those things will come into play as we get closer to the World Cup,” added Rohit.
India will now play three-match ODI series against England. After the completion of the ODI series, Indian players will partake in the IPL, which will be a perfect opportunity for them to gear up for the IPL. India is also reported to play the T20I series against South Africa and New Zealand before the T20 World Cup.
