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Rohit Sharma has been rested for the dead rubber Asia Cup 2022 Super 4 encounter against Afghanistan. In his absence, KL Rahul has been made captain for the match. At the coin toss he revealed that “Rohit wants to take break”.
“Rohit wants to take a break, playing back-to-back is not easy in these conditions,” Rahul said after losing the toss.
Not just Rohit, several changes have been made in the T20I side. Axar Patel, Dinesh Karthik and Deepak Chahar have been included in the team. Yuzvendra Chahal and Hardik Pandya have been rested as well.
“Even coming into this tournament, we had the T20 World Cup in mind. It's a good learning for us to play such a tournament before the World Cup. We have learnt a few things from the losses. Trying to finalise the roles that each individual will play in the World Cup,” he added.
Patel and Chahar were a part of India's extended Asia Cup squad as standbys. Patel came in for an injured Ravindra Jadeja whereas Chahar replaced Avesh Khan, who had fallen ill before Super 4 clash against Pakistan.
“I see my role as a support to the captain and the team. Helping the team to get the best out of themselves. But once they are on the field, it's upto the players and the captain to execute their plans and take the team forward. I think Rohit is pretty relaxed, and pretty much the whole team is. You got put things in perspective. We lost a couple of games on a pitch, on a ground that has not been easy to defend on. Just because we have lost a couple of games, it doesn't mean we are a terrible team. I think we don't need to overeact with things. It's a balanced environment, whether we win or we lose. We keep going on the same path, the journey continues,” head coach Rahul Dravid said on the sidelines.
India Playing XI: KL Rahul(c), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant(w), Deepak Hooda, Dinesh Karthik, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Deepak Chahar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh
Afghanistan Playing XI: Hazratullah Zazai, Rahmanullah Gurbaz(w), Ibrahim Zadran, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi(c), Karim Janat, Rashid Khan, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Fareed Ahmad Malik, Fazalhaq Farooqi
