Bridgetown: India head coach Rahul Dravid said that the team was “not worried about every single game and single series” and will have to try out other players ahead of the World Cup, as he defended his decision to rest Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in the second ODI against West Indies.
The Indian team management’s decision to rest regular skipper Rohit and star batter Virat Kohli badly backfired as the visitors were bowled out for 181 in 40.5 overs. The home team chased down the target with 80 balls to spare for an easy six-wicket victory to level the three-match ODI series 1-1.
“We will always look at the bigger picture. At this stage in the cycle, the Asia Cup and World Cup coming up we have to look at the bigger picture because of some of the injuries we have. We can’t get worried about every single game. Every single series, if we do that it will be a mistake,” Dravid said after the match.
“To give people chances, Virat and Rohit sat out. We have to take those risks, we might have to take those chances in situations like that looking at big events. We want to give them (young players) as many chances we possibly can.” Dravid said with some players injured and recovering at the National Cricket Academy(NCA) in Bengaluru, it was imperative for the management to give chances to other team members ahead of the Asia Cup (August 30-September 17) and the World Cup (October-November).
“Honestly, this was our last chance to try out some of our players. We have got few of our players injured who are in NCA. With a month to go until Asia Cup, we are running out of time in a lot of ways. We are hopeful that some of them (injured players) will be fit for Asia Cup and World Cup, but we can’t take those chances.
The former India batting stalwart said the move to rest Rohit and Kohli was to create enough bench strength which can be used in necessity.
“We just felt that in a series like this with two, three matches to go for the Asia Cup, playing Virat and Rohit would not have given us too many answers.
“We need to build some of the players, we need get some answers for specific positions considering some of the situations we are in,” said Dravid.
He said he is least bothered about criticism and opinions of people outside.
“We are not too much worried about the opinion of people. It’s just that these are the talented boys we have in the country. They have all performed and it’s up to them to take the opportunities.”
PTI

Press Trust of India