Rohit Sharma : If Kohli opening with me is right in T20Is, so be it.
Rohit Sharma, the vice-captain of India’s limited-overs teams, stated that he won’t mind opening with Virat Kohli in T20Is if the same augers well for the team. On Saturday, March 20, Kohli and Rohit commenced proceedings in the fifth and final T20I against England at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
The duo put on 94 runs for the opening wicket off a mere 54 balls and set the platform for the colossal score on the board. Even as Rohit got a 34-ball 64, striking at 188.24, Virat stayed unbeaten on 80 off 52 balls, leading India to 224 runs in their 20 overs after being put in to bat first.
Their efforts didn’t go in vain as the Men in Blue won the game by 36 runs and pocketed the series 3-2. Rohit also wants to stay oblivious of the various opinions on team selection. The Nagpur-born is focussed on the plans surrounding the T20 World Cup later in 2021.
We are not concerned with what is happening outside: Rohit Sharma
“It was good for us to win the game with that batting order. Everything will depend on what the captain is thinking at that particular point in time. I am sure we need to sit and analyse and collect our thoughts on what would be the right thing for the team. If that means he has to open with me, so be it, if we feel that is right as a team we will go ahead with that,” Rohit was quoted as saying in a virtual press conference.
“We are not concerned with what is happening outside, the talks that are taking place outside, and what people are thinking about who should play and who shouldn’t, that doesn’t matter to us. Getting the right players as in somebody who is in good form, giving him an opportunity, those are the things that really matter, and we will be focussing on that, come the World Cup,” he added.
As far as the final T20I is concerned, despite Kohli and Rohit’s heroics, it was Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who got the Player of the Match award. Kumar got the prized scalps of Jason Roy and Jos Buttler, and ended with stupendous figures of 4-0-15-2.
