Published 12:45 IST, August 11th 2023

'There are a lot of questions that we need answers of': Rohit Sharma defends Rahul Dravid

After the ODI series against West Indies, Rohit Sharma will be leading the Indian cricket team in the Asia Cup 2023 starting from August 31, 2023.

Reported by: Saksham Nagar
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Indian cricket team skipper Rohit Sharma and head coach Rahul Dravid during a discussion in the practice session (Image: AP) | Image: self
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The Indian cricket team management has been performing a lot of experiments to finalise their final 15 for the upcoming ODI World Cup 2023. Under these experiments, players like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma were rested from the final two ODI matches against West Indies and the team was led by Hardik Pandya. 

3 things you need to know 

  • Team India didn't perform well in the absence of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma in the first two ODIs against WI 
  • Team India faced many difficulties to chase down a low score of 115 runs in the first IND vs WI ODI 
  • Team India faced a backlash from the fans over continuous experiments in the ODI series against WI 

ALSO READ | 'We will have a good debate': Rohit hints at massive team selection calls ahead of the World Cup

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Rohit Sharma defends Rahul Dravid over continuous experiments in the Team India combination  

The Indian cricket team has players like KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, and Rishabh Pant due to injuries, and their presence in the ODI World Cup is also not certain. However, the team management has been doing a lot of experiments with the combination of the team and is trying to find out the right team balance. 

The Indian team didn't play with the likes of batsmen like skipper Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in the last two ODIs against West Indies and gave chances to young players like Sanju Samson, Shubman Gill, Ishan Kishan, and many more. However, the team management's experiment failed which resulted in a lot of backlash from the fans. 

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Team India skipper Rohit Sharma has defended the management's decision of trying out new players and also the continuous experiments that are being done with the team combination. Rohit believes that the management wants to find the best team combination for the Asia Cup and the ODI World Cup 2023. The management also wants to see some players bat under pressure against quality teams. Rohit said in a public event: 

We have got a lot of names there. We will see what is right combination for us to go in the World Cup but before we have the Asia Cup. We will see, we want to win but at the same time there are a lot of questions that we need answers of. But in the Asia Cup, I want to see some of the guys batting under pressure against quality teams. 

Rohit Sharma added 

I still want to see those things, so we will wait and see what happens, but it is always nice to have a lot of names, rather than just one or two names. I hope they are fit in time – firstly that is the most important. They (Rahul and Iyer) have been at the NCA for the last four months, working really hard and it looks quite positive so we will keep our fingers crossed. 

ALSO READ | 'Jadeja is also not playing': Rohit Sharma's fierce response on T20 snub for him and Kohli

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The Indian cricket team has an amazing chance to test all their resources in the Asia Cup 2023 just ahead of the ODI World Cup. The multination Asian tournament will consist of many quality teams like Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Afghanistan which can bring in a tough task for Team India in the upcoming major ICC event. India vs Pakistan match will be the best practice for all the players as it is one of the biggest high-pressure games in cricketing history and the 'Men in Green' has given a lot of competition to the Rohit Sharma-led Indian team in the past few ICC events. 

08:48 IST, August 11th 2023