Indian cricket coach Rahul Dravid reveals why he decided to rest Rohit and Kohli for the West Indies series: Former Indian legend cricketer and Coach Rahul Dravid explains his decision to drop two key players from the team that lost the second ODI to the West Indies in Barbados on Saturday.
The Asian team rested skipper Rohit Sharma and fellow veteran batsman Virat Kohli for the 50-over tie, and the move backfired as the Caribbean team won by six wickets and leveled the series 1-1 ahead of the series decider in Taroua. Equalized with
Speaking to the media after the humiliating defeat, Rahul Dravid defended his choice and said that for the upcoming League Asia Cup and the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup. He would first focus on fringe players like Ishan Kishan, Sanju Samson, and Suryakumar Yadav.
Rahul Dravid said
“This was the last chance we had to try out some of our players,”.
“We have got a few of our players who are injured who are in the NCA (National Cricket Academy).
“With a month to go until the 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 the Asia Cup and the World Cup, but we can’t take those chances.
“We have to try out other people and give other people chances so in a worst-case scenario at least they have game time behind them and it gives us an opportunity to make some decisions on players
“In a series like this with only two or three matches to go, playing Rohit and Virat would not have given us too many answers.
“With the injuries we have in the NCA and some uncertainty surrounding them, we wanted to give some of the other boys a chance so if required they can play.”
Ishan Kishan impressed in the top-order with his half-century, but Sanju Samson (9) and Suryakumar (24) missed golden opportunities to stake their claim to be included in Dravid’s squad for the home World Cup later this year Because India lost the score of 90-. Scored runs in the opening partnership after being bundled out for just 181 on a difficult pitch for batting at Bridgetown.
“We knew it was a tricky wicket and not an easy wicket to bat on and we knew we needed to get 230 or 240 and we felt that would have been a very good and competitive score,” Dravid added.
“We lost wickets in bunches after Shubman (Gill) and Ishan gave us a good start.
“But we needed someone to bat until the end and we lost wickets in the middle and were 50 or 60 runs short.”
And while Dravid wants to win every match and every series India contests, he knows sometimes what lies ahead is of greater importance.
“We will always look at the bigger picture,” Dravid noted.
“At this stage of the cycle with the Asia Cup and World Cup coming up, because of the injuries we have, we have to look at the bigger picture.
“We can’t get worried about every single game and every single series and if we do that I think it will be a mistake.”
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