Captain Hardik Pandya, fill-in In the crucial third ODI against the West Indies on Tuesday in Trinidad, India once again decided to play without regular captain Rohit Sharma and captain Virat Kohli.
In the third ODI, which India had to win to advance against the West Indies, both Virat Kohli and regular leader Rohit Sharma opted to sit out. The pair had missed India’s defeat to West Indies in the second ODI, which the hosts needed to tie the three-match series at a single point. Rohit Sharma was not in the starting XI when Hardik Pandya arrived at the toss. Pandya responded to the question of whether Kohli will be playing or not by saying, “Two changes for us. Umran and Axar are replaced by Ruturaj and Unadkat, respectively. The boys are fired up and eager for the game going into the final. The playing surface appears good, and I don’t believe much will change. Batting first offers us a strong chance to set a high total.
Many observers disagreed with the team management’s choice to rest Kohli and Rohit in the second ODI, which India lost. Former India cricketer Aakash Chopra expressed his displeasure with the experiments on Jio Cinema, feeling that the senior duo did not need a break for this match.
“I don’t know why Rohit and Virat were rested; they haven’t played much cricket because, as you can see, there was just seven days of play in the India-WI tests, then there was a three-week break after the WTC final. You play one ODI after that and then go. The T20s can be set aside if you want to. How will it harm anyone that you don’t play T20s this year, even if the T20 World Cup isn’t held this year? In any case, T20Is do not include Rohit or Kohli. Therefore, you are unwinding solely for the sake of unwinding, he remarked.
Abhishek Nayar, another former hitter, agrees that the strongest squad ought to compete.
“Unless there is an injury, I think you should play with your strongest eleven when you are six to eight months out from a major tournament. Only play with them since doing so allows you to learn about each other’s strengths, gain experience playing with them in a variety of settings, and improve.
