Need to seal middle-order slots for World Cup: Rohit
India captain Rohit Sharma on Monday admitted that the team’s middle-order is still shaky and their objective will be to identify players for the number four and six slot during the Asia Cup. India will start their Asia Cup campaign against Hong Kong on Tuesday followed by the game against Pakistan.
However, the problem for India during the past one year is the lack of a settled middle-order, which was evident during the recent ODI series defeat in England. Rohit made it clear that the likes of Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Ambati Rayudu are fighting for the key middleorder slots.
“Lot of spots are up for grabs like Nos 3, 4 and 6. All these guys (Kedar, Manish, Rayudu) are eyeing for those slots. We want to give chances to as many guys for this particular series. In this tournament, we need to seal the batting slot Nos 4 and 6,” Rohit said on the eve of India’s opener against Hong Kong.
Rohit’s answer was an indication that Mahendra Singh Dhoni will bat at number five. Ambati Rayudu is back in the Indian team having cleared the YoYo test and he also performed well in the Quadrangular series for India A. Kedar Jadhav is back having recovered from a hamstring surgery.
“They are both important
DUBAI:
members of this team. Rayudu was originally part of England series and similarly Kedar before his injury. It was unfortunate that they couldn’t play for some time and I am very happy that both are back in the team. I expect them to win matches for India,” said Rayudu.
Rohit didn’t reveal whether he was open to rotating bowlers in this searing Dubai heat but did say that performers should be given a longer run.
“I haven’t thought about it right now. We want to see how each individual react to different situations. At the same time, we want to give chance to as many guys as possible but also give more opportunities to those who are consistent. We would see how individuals respond to conditions and take decisions accordingly,” said Rohit.
Having had a look at the match strip, Rohit’s assessment is that it will get slower as the game progresses. “The wicket isn’t that bad. The first match we need to figure out the dimension of the ground,” he said.