India got off to a winning start as they defeated West Indies by five wickets in the first ODI at the Kensington Oval in Barbados on Thursday (July 27) to lead the three-match series 1-0. Riding on Kuldeep Yadav's splendid spell of 4/6, West Indies were skittled out for a paltry 114. In reply, India with some hiccups in between comfortably chased down the target in 22.5 overs, thanks to Ishan Kishan's calculative 52-run knock.
But what left everyone scratching their heads was India skipper Rohit's decision to demote himself and Virat Kohli in the batting order. Rohit himself didn't turn for opening and sent Kishan and Shubman Gill for the role.
Rohit reveals reason behind not sending Kohli to bat
After clinching the facile victory over Caribbeans, Rohit finally revealed reason and rationale behind not sending Kohli first down. In the post-match presentation Rohit said that he wanted to give others a chance to bat in the first ODI, which is why he himself came to bat at no.7 when India were once 97/5.
"We wanted to give game time to the ODI guys who have come in, we will keep trying those things whenever possible. To restrict them to 115, we knew we could try these guys and give them a go. 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,” Rohit Sharma said.
Rohit also admitted that he was surprised by the pitch and said he didn't expect that the surface would behave this way.
"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,” Rohit added.
Indian skipper was also full of praise for debutant Mukesh Kumar and Ishan Kishan. While Mukesh bowled an impressive spell of 1/22, Kishan cracked a robust fifty.
“Mukesh was brilliant, he can swing the ball at a good pace. Good to see what he can offer, haven’t seen him much in domestic cricket. No matter the conditions, we need to bowl in the right areas to restrict them and I thought our bowlers did brilliantly. And then Ishan was good with the bat as well,” Rohit concluded.
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