The Indian team management's decision to rest captain Rohit Sharma and maverick batter Virat Kohli from the 2nd ODI against West Indies proved to be a disaster. In the absence of their two big guns, India's batting line-up failed to hold its own and the Men in Blue were bundled out for just 181 runs by a mediocre Windies bowling attack. With ODI World Cup less than three months away, Team India is searching for answers when it comes to identifying players for key batting positions, especially with KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant out with injuries.
Former Pakistan batter Salman Butt reckons that a slight tweak in India's batting line-up can work wonders for the team. But opined that shifting Rohit to No.3 and Virat to No.4 in the batting order will bolster India's middle order while also offering a chance for someone like Shikhar Dhawan or Ishan Kishan to open the batting alongside Shubman Gill.
"Clearly, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma didn’t play so everyone was on their own. They missed the duo’s presence. Earlier, when the likes of Dhoni and other main players were rested, Suresh Raina, Gautam Gambhir or Yuvraj Singh would take care of the batting in their absence," Butt said on his YouTube channel.
"But the current players haven’t been able to establish themselves in ODI cricket. Before the World Cup, they have to sort it out.
"I think the way ODIs are played, if the new players aren’t able to perform on frequent basis, maybe you can have Shikhar Dhawan and Shubman Gill opening, and maybe Rohit Sharma can come one down with Virat Kohli at 4.
"Then you can have Suryakumar and other players like KL Rahul. There are 3-4 players in this team who play in the opening role, and when they came down, the output isn’t the same," Butt opined.
India doesn't have much time to finalise their batting line-up and injuries to key players have further complicated things. The ODI World Cup is scheduled to start on October 15 and the Men in Blue would look to zero down on their best batters by the end of the Asia Cup so that the line-up can get three games against Australia before the quadrennial competition.
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