DUBAI: Four years ago, when replacing regular captain Virat Kohli in the 50-plus Asian Cup here in the United Arab Emirates, Rohit Sharma claimed that the constant chopping and changing in the middle order n weren’t going to help India’s cause ahead of the 2019 World Cup.
It’s ironic that now, when he’s the regular captain of all formats and the T20 World Cup is just under two months away, the team’s management seem reluctant to settle on a combination. The constant shuffling of players has hurt India, especially in this Asian Cup. “Rotation”, “rest” and “reserve of resources” have been the watchwords of this Indian team over the past eight months. It can be said that India lost Ravindra Jadeja to injury and she was missing Jasprit Bumrah in the game against Sri Lanka on Tuesday night. The fact remains that the team played musical chairs with the middle order and the bowling attack.
“There will be a time when we draw a line and say, ‘this is the combination we want to play for the World Cup.’ After that we have two more series and then the World Cup. Until our squad is announced we can try a few players,” Rohit said, remaining firm on his strategy after back-to-back defeats to Pakistan and Lanka. . The team’s management had identified players and assigned playoffs to them that February. This was a conservative approach given the volume of cricket Indian players had to play throughout the year.
“When you talk about experiments, we wanted to try some things. If you look at the combination we played before the Asian Cup started, it was with four setters, two spinners. The second spinner was an all-rounder. .I’ve always wanted to try to find answers to what happens if you play with three setters and two spinners, a third spinner being versatile,” he said.
Combinations with bowlers clearly haven’t clicked yet. It is obvious that there is an overreliance on Bumrah. Depending on Hardik Pandya as a frontline setter was also a dodgy move. Head coach Rahul Dravid and Rohit have taken a cautious approach to preserving players for the upcoming World Cup. According to Rohit, the team’s management wants to keep challenging itself. In a way, the team tries to anticipate various situations. This seems to contradict Coach Dravid’s claim that the team was only focused on playing under the given conditions in the Asian Cup.
“I want to be ready for the World Cup, where you are challenged as a team. When you go to the World Cup, you want to have all the answers. These defeats teach us a lot of things,” Rohit said as he went on to concede: “There are a lot of questions we need to answer, and along the way, in the three-four series we’ve played, we’ve found answers. It’s (the team) settled at 90-95%, just some changes that will happen.”
One of the most interesting points that Sri Lanka’s well-articulated Bhanuka Rajapaksa made after beating India on Tuesday was the importance of having the same band playing together for two years. “You have to give credit to the coaches and selectors who picked a group and played with them for a few years. Yes, there will be some changes here and there, but most of the players have stuck together. When you cut and change too much, there are trust issues among the players,” he said of the resurgence of the Lankan team. Rajapaksa’s words were along the same lines as Rohit claimed four years ago here.
In the captain’s eyes, this Indian team may be on the verge of being a stable unit, but these defeats are sure to be troubling for a group of T20 cricketing superstars based on their IPL exploits. Still, Rohit maintained the dressing room was unfazed by the results. “You can go into the locker room and see, all the boys are relaxed and laid back. We have to have such an atmosphere whether you win or lose.”
Virat Kohli resigned as all-format captain due to India’s inability to win major ICC tournaments under him. Little seems to have changed. The last two games of the Asian Cup have just exposed India’s vulnerabilities in multinational tournaments. “I don’t think there’s anything wrong. It looks like it from the outside, but we don’t see it that way,” Rohit said.
