Rohit Sharma, Indian vice-captain on Saturday said it is still too early to finalize the team’s batting line-up for the T20 World Cup at home later this year and skipper Virat Kohli opening alongside him in the series decider against England was only a tactical move.
Before Rohit Sharma’s media interaction, Virat Kohli said that he will open in the upcoming IPL and he would want to open with Rohit Sharma going into the T20I World Cup.
Rohit Sharma: Long Time To Gp For T20I World Cup So It’s Early To Talk About Batting Lineup
“It is a 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 analyze what suits the team the most,” said Rohit after the series win.
“Today 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.”
KL Rahul has been India’s most consistent T20I batsman over the last couple of years. He amassed 760 runs at an excellent average of 44.70 in the 20 matches he played in 2019 and 2020 with 8 fifties. India replaced an out-of-form KL Rahul with pacer T Natarajan for the crucial game.
Rohit Sharma: KL Rahul Has Been One Of India’s Key Players In Limited Overs Especially In T20Is
KL Rahul has managed two ducks, and two scores of 1 and 14, respectively, in the ongoing T20I series so far which led to his omission in the final 5th T20I.
“KL has been one of our key players in limited-overs, especially in this format. Looking at the current form, the team management decided to go with the best 11. Having said that, it doesn’t send any signal that KL will not be considered or anything like that. This was just for one particular game. Things might change as we go closer to World Cup.”
Before the series, Virat Kohli had said that Rohit Sharma and KL 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 lineup 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 few T20s as well before the (T20) 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 Sharma.
India had been struggling at the top of the order with KL Rahul scoring 1,0,0, 14 in the first four T20Is. Virat Kohli had backed KL Rahul to come well up until the final match as his patience finally ran out with the Karnataka batsman. KL Rahul has received the backing of India captain Virat Kohli, who feels the batsman is a ‘champion player’ in T20 cricket and continues to be one of the key Indian batsmen.