Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt has suggested that India should put skipper Rohit Sharma at number 3 and Virat Kohli at 4 after the Men in Blue’s batting struggle in the first two ODIs against West Indies. India won the first ODI by five wickets as Rohit and Kohli demoted themselves in the batting order. The duo was rested for the second ODI and it affected the visitors badly as they were bundled out for just 181 after being asked to bat first. Their weaknesses were exposed in the absence of their senior stars as the young guns failed to impress against a struggling Windies team that failed to qualify for the ODI World Cup 2023 in India.
Butt pointed out India missed the presence of the star duo in the line-up which was not the case earlier when MS Dhoni was the captain of the side and he used to take a rest to give opportunities to young stars.
“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. But the current players haven’t been able to establish themselves in ODI cricket. Before the World Cup, they have to sort it out,” Butt said on his YouTube channel.
The former Pakistan captain further suggested that India should bring back Shikhar Dhawan to open the innings alongside Shubman Gill, while Rohit should bat at the number 3 spot and Kohli at 4.
“I think the way ODIs are played, if the new players aren’t able to perform on a 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,” he further said.
Rohit and Kohli are expected to return to India’s playing XI for the series decider on Tuesday but it will be interesting to see whether they will stick with Ishan Kishan or Shubman Gill at the top or the Hitman reclaim his opening spot.
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