IND vs BAN | Youngsters have that hunger, states Rohit Sharma
Rohit Sharma believes that this is the best time for youngsters like Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant and Shivam Dube to get some matches under their belt. India are looking at the Bangladesh series as a golden opportunity to experiment ahead of the T20 World and prove their mettle with a Kohli-less team.
India's regular skipper across formats Virat Kohli has been rested for the T20I series against Bangladesh and it seems like the move has more to do with the upcoming T20 World Cup other than just resting Kohli. The newly-appointed captain Rohit Sharma seems to acknowledge that fact as he went on to say the team management wants to give youngsters game time.
With the absence of Kohli in the top order, KL Rahul can be promoted up the order to No. 3. With Rahul moving up, it gives the think tank an opportunity to field either Shreyas Iyer or Manish Pandey, both could surely use spending some time in the middle. So this even gives management the luxury to leave Shikhar Dhawan out, whose performance has been gradually going down as he has only 181 runs in nine games, and have Rahul opening with either Iyer or Pandey in the middle order with Pant. And the best of all is the players who come into the side as changes would have games under their belt before the World Cup.
"We have a number of options but they just need to get a game under their belt to be more confident to go out there and get the job done. The team a few months ago was very settled and there was no room for a young player to come and have an opportunity. There was always chop and change between No. 4, 5, 6 and 7 as well. Now, this is the best time for us to try Shreyas Iyer, Shivam Dube, Manish Pandey and Rishabh as well," Cricbuzz quoted Rohit.
"There are a lot of guys who can get that job done. When they play for their IPL team, it's a different ball game. When they come here, it's a different ball game. They bat higher in their IPL teams and that's the challenge of international cricket. You will not always get what you want. You have to earn that position. You have to make sure whatever limited opportunities you get, you have to get the job done.
"When they play for their IPL franchise, they know they'll play all 14 games, so they know how they need to bat and what they need to do. When it comes to international cricket, there are always limited opportunities. We've all gone through that. They know that and they are working towards that. They have that hunger that they want to do well in whatever opportunities they get. They've got big numbers, big scores in Vijay Hazare and that's always a great sign."
Even with his eyes set on the T20 World Cup, Rohit hasn't forgotten about the task at hand. He informed that winning is still first on the priority list but he added that the team would like to dwell into tough situations and also learn how to cope with it sans-Kohli.
"We have looked at numbers and how we have done in that department. We are really good at chasing and something we really want to focus on is setting a target. That's something we are lacking. The last T20I, we played against South Africa in Bangalore, the pitch was very sticky. If it was a final or a semifinal, we would have chased for sure. But we want to challenge ourselves. We want all our bases covered before we head into that World Cup. We want to win games as well. It's not about trying and letting it go so easy. The first priority is to win games and then everything else," Rohit pointed out.
"We have not had a great run and we are ranked five and we want to get that number higher. We want to be at the top. That's the standard we have set and there's no reason we can't get that. My job at this point is just to take the team forward. Virat has put in place certain processes and I just want to carry that forward."
But keeping everything apart, Rohit stressed that the opponent shouldn't be underestimated given that Bangladesh has evolved to be a very competitive side. The memory of the Bangalore encounter with Bangladesh, in the quarter-finals of the T20 World Cup, that went to the last ball, is still fresh in the fans mind.
"Bangladesh is a very good team, both home and away. They have always put us under pressure, so there's no way we look at this team differently. I know they have two key players missing but they can beat any team on their day. For us, it's important not to focus on the opposition too much. We have a lot of new guys who want to go out there show what they are capable of, so we will focus on that particular aspect more."
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