INDvsWI: Rohit Sharma explains reason for promoting Rishabh Pant to open the innings

Rohit Sharma explains reason for promoting Rishabh Pant to open the innings.

INDvsWI: Indian skipper Rohit Sharma, after the second ODI match between India and West Indies, explained the rationale behind elevating Rishabh Pant to the opening position in the second ODI. Sharma added that Pant?s promotion was purely on an experimental basis as the team wanted to try out different things.

India hammered West Indies in the second ODI match at Narendra Modi Stadium to pocket the three matches ODI series. Despite failing to score enough runs on board, Indian bowlers did a remarkable job to confine the opposition and bowl out.

Wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant?s entry as the opener raised several eyebrows. The original idea was to bring someone who can explode at the top order and make most of the powerplay. However, it didn?t pay dividends as Pant was dismissed for 18 runs off 34 balls.

Rohit Sharma opened up on the eye-raising move during the post-match presentation and said that it was only an experiment and not a permanent solution.

"I've been asked to do different things, trying out Pant to open was something that we tried today, not a permanent solution but we wanted to try out something unique today. We're going to get Shikhar back in the next game, he's going to get his game time but ultimately, we have to keep trying out different things. We don't mind losing games here and there but we want to keep experimenting."

Shikhar Dhawan, who opens the innings with Rohit Sharma in ODIs, had earlier tested covid positive and due to the existing protocols, he was left out of the second match. Dhawan will be available for selection in the third ODI match on 11th February.

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Sharma further said that he would bring in players who have been in the setup for a long time and give them an extended run in the team.

"Still a day in between, we're going to go back and see who we can give that game time but again there are guys who's been playing consistently, it's important we need to continue to give them the game time," he added.

The Indian skipper further hailed the partnership between Suryakumar Yadav and KL Rahul to lift up India from the early debacle. The duo stitched a partnership close to 100 runs for the fourth wicket.

?I thought the partnership between KL and Surya, they showed a lot of maturity there, that is what we want, when you lose wickets up front, you need guys to step up and we got to a fighting total in the end."

India won the match by 44 runs and sealed the ODI series. Pacer Prasidh Krishna was adjudged as the Man of the Match for his thrilling spell of nine overs which fetched 4 wickets by giving away mere 12 runs.

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