Team India’s head coach Ravi Shastri has hinted at resting the opening pair, Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan, for the upcoming limited overs series against Australia.
Also, Mohammed Shami, who was recently adjudged the ‘Player of the series’ against New Zealand could also get the rest.
“There would still be one or two places we would be looking at. In general, the team picks itself. What you want is the team not losing form with five games to go for the World Cup. You, in fact, should grab every opportunity you get and make the most of it. Now, Shami would need a break – he has had a long season. Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma could get a break as well,” Shastri told Star Sports after the completion of ODI series.
Both Rohit and Dhawan have been playing limited-overs cricket for long now, without taking any rest. Dhawan, though, spent few weeks out after he was dropped from the Test side for the West Indies and Australia series. Rohit also had some time off but he made a comeback to the Test side and has been playing continuously for two months now.
The duo will be opening the innings for India at the ICC World Cup 2019 and prior to that, the openers will be given rest. It will also give an opportunity to the management to try out new opening combinations to ink on the reserve opener.
For now, India do not have a reserve opener as both KL Rahul and Ajinkya Rahane are out of India’s limited overs side. Rahul was dropped from the team for his comments on ‘Koffee with Karan’ show while Rahane was dropped after the South Africa series last year.
India will host Australia for two T20Is and five ODIs, scheduled to begin from February 24.
