Rohit Sharma on coming to bat at 5: ‘We will keep trying those things whenever possible’ | Cricket News

As India walked out to chase 115 against the West Indies, it wasn’t skipper Rohit Sharma who walked out to bat with Shubman Gill but Ishan Kishan. When Gill was dismissed in the fourth over, it was Suryakumar Yadav who came in to bat rather than India’s usual number three batter in the format, Virat Kohli.
The current and the former India captain would hold themselves back as the likes of Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja and even Shardul Thakur followed as India went five wickets down in pursuit of the second lowest total posted the West Indies against the men in blue in ODIs. Rohit Sharma would finally come in to bat after half of the Indian batting was back in the hut.
When asked of the reshuffling in the batting order post-match, Rohit said, “We wanted to give game time to the ODI guys who have come in, we will keep trying those things whenever possible.

“I don’t think they’ll get many chances like this. I made my debut for India and was batting at number 7, reminded me of those days,” the Indian captain added.
Speaking on the wicket that saw spinners pick 10 out of the 15 wickets, Rohit conceded, “I never thought the pitch would play like that, it was the team’s need to bowl first and have a score. The pitch had everything for the seamers and spinners, our guys did well to restrict them to that score.  To restrict them to 115, we knew we could try these guys and give them a go.”

Kuldeep Yadav, who nabbed four wickets and gave away just six runs, was the pick of the bowlers while Ravindra Jadeja managed to grab three wickets. In batting, Ishan Kishan scored his fourth ODI fifty in a chase that turned out to be anything but a cakewalk for the visitors.