India skipper Virat Kohli has insisted that his team does not new players to sort out the opening woes.
The Men in Blue have chased down some huge scores en route to winning the last two ODI series at home but their openers have rarely contributed during those wins. During the five-match ODI series against New Zealand, Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma could not share a single fifty-run stand and the opening partnership only worsened in the recently concluded series against New Zealand.
The openers, Shikhar Dhawan, K.L. Rahul and Ajinkya Rahane scored a total of only 37 runs as India had to rely solely on the middle-order batsmen to get a good score. The poor start finally took a toll on the hosts during the final ODI against England when Virat Kohli’s men fell short by only 5 runs while chasing a mammoth 321.
However, the newly-appointed skipper is confident that he does not a new addition to the team to get good starts. He also said that the out of form openers need some time to get back into the groove.
Speaking to the reporters after the final ODI against England, the 28-year old said:
“Whatever areas or concerns we have, we’ll address them.”
“First we didn’t have an opening problem, it was an issue with the middle order. Now the middle order has been sorted. We have very good openers with us. It’s not a case where we have to find openers. You have to give chances for people to come back into form.”
“I think if we back our openers and give them confidence, it’s all about one or two innings in international cricket. Once you get the flow, everything clicks.”
India’s opening woes have been further aggravated due to the absence of Rohit Sharma. The Mumbai batsman has been a batting mainstay in the limited-overs format and his presence during the big chases would have surely made the task easier for the middle-order batsmen.
India will not play any ODI match before the Champions Trophy in England and if one goes by Kohli’s words it is very much likely that Rohit and Dhawan will start the innings.
Recalling the last edition of the tournament, where the opening pair of Rohit and Dhawan was a huge hit, Kohli said:
“The Champions Trophy (in 2013) is where we saw Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan as an opening pair revelation.”
“We have played only at 70-75 percent potential as a batting unit. If we play at 100 percent I don’t know how many runs we can score.”
Well, very few people can argue with Kohli on this. The Indian team had scored over 300 runs in all the three matches against England and one can only imagine the score they would have posted had the openers given them a good start.