The Indian legend Sunil Gavaskar is not at all happy with the fact that Rohit Sharma was demoted in the batting order by the Indian team management in the T20 World Cup game against New Zealand last night.
After suffering a heavy loss against Pakistan, the Indian team management picked Ishan Kishan and slotted him at the top of the order with KL Rahul, while Rohit Sharma was slotted at no. 3.
There was a cricketing logic behind the move as New Zealand often uses Mitchell Santner with the new ball and it might have been tough for the two right handers to put the left arm spinner away.
So, India wanted a left hander at the top, but with Ishan opening, New Zealand didn’t use Santner at all and they actually used Santner when Ishan was dismissed and Rohit and Rahul were at the crease together.
Sunil Gavaskar opines that demoting Rohit Sharma didn’t send him the right message
However, Sunil Gavaskar was not happy with a change at the top in the first place. He thought the change might have been made because Rohit Sharma got out to the left arm swing of Shaheen Shah Afridi in the first game and the Indian team management was wary of him facing Trent Boult first up.
According to Sunil Gavaskar, by demoting Rohit in the batting order, the Indian team management gave him a clear message that they didn’t trust him against Boult despite the fact that he has scored tons of runs around the world against all kinds of bowling in white ball cricket.
Gavaskar is of the opinion that Rohit should have continued opening the batting, while Ishan Kishan should have batted at no. 4 or 5.
“Ishan Kishan is a hit-or-miss player and it is better if a batsman like him walks in No.4 or No.5. Now what has happened is that Rohit Sharma has been told that we don’t trust you to face the left-arm fast bowling of Trent Boult,” Gavaskar said while speaking exclusively to Aaj Tak after India’s second consecutive defeat in T20 World Cup 2021.
