xtratime Logo

Xtra Time Web Desk: Team India batting coach Vikram Rathour on Tuesday clarified the decision by the team management to not send Rohit Sharma to open the batting against New Zealand on Sunday in T20 World Cup 2021. Ishan Kishan, who substituted Suryakumar Yadav, opened the batting with KL Rahul.

The decision did not work well as Ishan perished for 7 and Rohit was dismissed for a run-a-ball 14 after being dropped off the first ball. On the eve of India’s third match of the tournament against Bangladesh on Tuesday, batting coach Vikram Rathour, while addressing the press conference, has revealed why and who took the decision to make Ishan and Rahul open and push Rohit a position below.

"How things went was Surya had some back spasms the previous night so he was not fit enough to be in the playing 11. So, the person coming in was of course Ishan and Ishan has done really well as an opener in IPL and in the past for the Indian team as well. And about who took the call, it's the whole management who sits together and discusses. And of course, Rohit is part of that group. So he was part of that discussion," Rathour said.

The batting coach, who has re-applied for the position, added that the decision made sense tactically as Ishan was coming off three consecutive half-centuries in his previous three innings and explained that the idea was to have a left-hand right-hand combination up top for India, since they team had only a limited number of left-handed batters available in the XI.

"It tactically made sense, having a left-hander upfront. We didn't want too many left-handers in the late middle-order with Ishan, Pant and Jadeja. So technically it made sense and he has batted well at the top of the order so that's why the decision was made," the former India batsman pointed out.