Ahmedabad: India vice-captain Rohit Sharma Saturday said it is still too early to finalise the team’s batting line-up for the T20 World Cup at home later this year and skipper Virat Kohli opening alongside him in the series decider against England was only a tactical move.
Before Rohit’s media interaction, Kohli said that he will open in the upcoming IPL and he would want to open with Rohit going into the T20 World Cup.
“It is long time to go for the (T20) World Cup, so early days to talk about how our batting will look like. We have to sit and analyse what suits the team the most,” said Rohit after the series win.
“Today was a tactical move because we wanted to play an extra bowler and wanted to leave one batsman out. Unfortunately it was KL (Rahul) which was very tough.”
India replaced an out-of-form Rahul with pacer T Natarajan for the crucial game.
“KL has been one our key players in limited overs, especially in this format. Looking at current form, the team management decided to go with the best 11. Having said that, it doesn’t send any signal that KL will not be considered or anything like that. This was just for one particular game. Things might change as we go closer to World Cup.”
Before the series, Kohli had said that Rohit and Rahul were India’s first-choice opening pair.
“We do understand his (Rahul’s) ability and his contribution at the top, what he’s done for us. So, yeah, I’m not going to rule out anything or neither will I say that this is the preferred batting lineup for a World Cup.
“There is still a good amount of time left with IPL in between. And then, I’m hearing, there will be few T20s as well before the (T20) World Cup. So, you know, good enough time for us, at that point in time to judge what will be the best possible eleven for us,” added Rohit.
PTI
