Rohit Sharma opened up about KL Rahul’s absence from India’s playing XI in the recently-concluded 5th T20I against England contested at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Saturday.
With both teams needing a win in the final T20I to seal the series, the Virat Kohli-led Team India side opted to leave Rahul out from the playing XI in order to add more firepower to their bowling attack.
Speaking on the same, Team India’s limited-overs skipper highlighted that the removal of KL Rahul from the playing was nothing but a tactical move by the Indian think tank.
“Today was a tactical move because we wanted to play an extra bowler and wanted to leave one batsman out. Unfortunately it was KL Rahul which was very tough. KL has been one our key players in limited overs, especially in this format,” he said.
“Looking at the current form, the team management decided to go with the best 11. Having said that, it doesn’t send any signal that KL will not be considered or anything like that. This was just for one particular game. Things might change as we go closer to World Cup,” Rohit Sharma added.
After Rahul was dropped to make way for T Natarajan, Virat Kohli decided to promote himself at the top of the order. His decision worked wonders for Team India in the series.
After being put on to bat first, Virat and Rohit added 94 runs in the first 9 overs as India managed to stitch a massive total of 224. But, Rohit said that the team is still working on finding the right combinations for the T20 WC. He also defended KL and highlighted his contribution to the team in the white-ball format.
“We do understand his (Rahul’s) ability and his contribution at the top, what he’s done for us. So, yeah, I’m not going to rule out anything or neither will I say that this is the preferred batting lineup for a World Cup,” he further stated.
“There is still a good amount of time left with IPL in between. And then, I’m hearing, there will be a few T20s as well before the World Cup. So, you know, good enough time for us, at that point in time to judge what will be the best possible eleven for us,” he concluded.