Follow UsIndian skipper Rohit Sharma, in the aftermath of the ODI series win at Old Trafford, played down concerns over the misfiring top-order (that includes himself) but admitted that it is an area that the team will need to be careful about.
India, on Sunday, comfortably chased down 260 to seal series win, but the game saw the top-order fail for the second game running. Rohit followed up his duck in the second game with a 17, while both Dhawan and Kohli also fell cheaply, for scores of 1 and 17 respectively. The duo, in fact, end the series having amassed 74 runs between them in 5 innings.
Top-order woes cost India the South Africa ODIs and almost cost them the England series, but Rohit asserted that he expects the experienced campaigners to bounce back and prove their quality.
“Not really,” Rohit answered at the presentation, when asked if he was worried about the top-order.
“But we do understand that it is something we need to look into. We played some not-so-good shots and that's what cost us wickets. But I still back those guys to come out good because they've done it for a long time. I've got nothing more to say since I understand the quality they bring to the team.”
Rohit, in fact, saw the positive side of things and claimed how the top-order misfiring provided an opportunity for the middle-order batters to step up and show their class.
“It was a good pitch, but we do understand it's not going to be easy if we lose wickets upfront. Positive side of it, these guys haven't batted much in the middle overs. Today we got to see that with Hardik and Rishabh. At no point we felt they were panicking. They backed themselves and played cricketing shots.”
The three-match series was dominated by the quicker bowlers, but one person who quietly made a mark was Yuzvendra Chahal, who finished the series as the third-highest wicket taker with 7 wickets. The leggie backed up his four-fer in the second game with a three-fer in the decider, and him cleaning up the tail played a key part in the visitors wrapping up the contest clinically.
Rohit described Chahal as a ‘critical member’ of the squad and claimed that he was pleased with the way the leggie has returned.
“He (Chahal) is a critical member, has so much experience, bowling in all sorts of formats. It was unfortunate that he missed the last T20 World Cup, but I'm pleased with how he has returned.”
India’s next 50-over assignment, against the West Indies, will see a lot of first-team members sit out, and the skipper described the three games in the Caribbean as an opportunity for the side to keep building their bench strength.
“We've got some solid guys in the bench who are looking for a long time to get a game. We want to create that bench strength because the kind of games we play, injuries are bound to happen and you need to manage workload. It is a conscious effort,” Rohit said.