'When will the younger players get a chance?' Rohit Sharma on Virat Kohli's withdrawal from 1st two Tests vs England

Abhijeet Kumar Singh

UPDATED:Jan 24, 2024 12:59 IST

India batting maestros Virat Kohli (left) and Rohit Sharma in this frame. (Getty)

Highlights:

Rohit Sharma on commented on Virat Kohli's withdrawal from 1st two Tests against England.

Virat Kohli apparently pulled out from first two Tests citing personal reason.

Skipper Rohit Sharma finally reacted on Virat Kohli's withdrawal from the first two Tests against England. In the pre-match press conference ahead of the first Test against England, India captain Rohit was posed with a question whether Virat Kohli's absence would hinder team's plans. Rohit replied," Leaving out experienced player is not easy. We did think about it. When will the younger players get a chance? Leaving out an experienced player or not? Not considering them is hard. The kind of experience that they have had, it is hard to ignore."

"If you have to get certain players in the set-up, you do not want to expose them on tough conditions. The doors are not closed for everyone. If they score runs, they will be welcomed to the set-up. It is important to look at other players. We don't want to end in a place where out of 11, 7-8 have played only 20-25 Tests,” Rohit said on the eve of first Test between India and England.

Apparently, Virat Kohli pulled out from the first two Tests against England on January 24 citing personal reason. After Kohli's withdrawal, BCCI announced Rajat Patidar as his replacement for the opening two Tests against England. There was much speculation about who the selection committee would go for as Kohli's replacement. While Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, and KL Rahul are set to form India's middle-order in the first Test, the squad lacked a reserve batter for emergency situations like last-minute injuries or as a concussion substitute. Rajat Patidar, recently recovered from an eight-month injury hiatus, emerged as the unanimous choice of the Indian team management and selectors.

Meanwhile, captain Rohit also talked about England's bowling line-up.

“Mark Wood has played a lot of cricket in India. Anderson and Leach have played Tests here. The other guys. Can't overlook their bowling. It will be a great contest. It will be a good series. I don't want to look into their bowling combinations. What we can do as a team that is my focus,” Rohit added.

India have maintained an impressive record of winning 16 consecutive home Test series since their loss to England in 2012.

On India's unbeaten record at home, Hitman said,"It is a sport. By no means, whatever record we have in the past decade, it does not give us the guarantee. England is a very good team. They play their Test cricket well. The last team to beat us was England in our conditions. Different team members to now. The quality of the team is there. It will be important to utilise our strengths. We are beatable. We want to think if we don't step up, we will be in trouble."

India's squad first two Tests vs England: Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rajat Patidar Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (WK), KS Bharat (WK), Dhruv Jurel (WK), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Avesh Khan.

England XI for 1st Test: 1. Zak Crawley, 2. Ben Duckett, 3. Ollie Pope, 4. Joe Root, 5. Jonny Bairstow, 6. Ben Stokes (captain), 7. Ben Foakes, 8. Rehan Ahmed, 9. Tom Hartley, 10. Mark Wood, 11. Jack Leach