Ahmedabad: India vice-captain Rohit Sharma feels it is still too early to finalise the team’s batting line-up for the upcoming T20 World Cup and skipper Virat Kohli opening alongside him in the series decider against England was only a tactical move.Before Rohit’s media interaction, Kohli said that he will open in the upcoming IPL and would also like to bat at the top of the order in the T20 World Cup at home later this year. It is still long time to go for the (T20) World Cup, so early days to talk about how our batting will look like. We have to sit and analyse what suits the team the most, said Rohit after the series win.
It was a tactical move because we wanted to play an extra bowler and wanted to leave one batsman out. Unfortunately, it was KL (Rahul) which was very tough. India replaced an out-of-form Rahul with pacer T Natarajan to have an extra bowling option for the crucial game.
This was just for one particular game. Things might change as we go closer to World Cup.”l
Before the series, Kohli had said that Rohit and Rahul were India’s first-choice opening pair.
We do understand his (Rahul’s) ability and his contribution at the top, what he’s done for us. So, yeah, I’m not going to rule out anything or neither will I say that this is the preferred batting line-up for a World Cup.
There is still a good amount of time left with IPL in between. And then, I’m hearing, there will be a few T20s as well before the World Cup. So, you know, good enough time for us, at that point in time to judge what will be the best possible eleven for us, added Rohit. Though Kohli said after the series win that the World Cup squad is more or less finalised, Rohit felt the management is flexible on that front.
On Kohli opening with him regularly, he added: “It was good for us to win this game with that batting order. But again, everything will depend on what the captain is thinking at that particular time.
I’m sure we need to sit and analyse and recollect our thoughts and think about what will be the right thing to do for the team. And if it means he has to open with me so be it.
A big plus for India was the successful return of pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar from injury. He tilted the decider in India’s favour by removing the dangerous Jos Buttler. See Bhuvi has been here for long enough, and he’s done really, really well for us in the shorter formats. So yeah, he still remains one of our leading bowlers, and obviously, in this particular line-up, he is our leading bowler, said Rohit.