“He has obviously shown a lot of potential with the white ball and as I have said many times earlier, guys with potential will be given a decent run of games and enough chances in that particular slot. Of course, we have seen, and he knows that he needs to do better in this format of the game as well. Things are there in his mind as well. Surya has got out cheaply in the last two games and in the series before this too, but he needs a consistent 7 to 8 back-to-back games so that he feels more comfortable. Now that he has got into the team as a replacement for someone who has got injured, we, as a management, can’t really look into the performances as such. Once you give a guy a consistent run and you know that the runs are not coming or he is not comfortable etc then we will start thinking about it but right now we haven’t got to that stage,” Rohit stated at a post-match briefing right here on Sunday evening.
Visakhapatnam has been a cheerful looking floor for the Indians as they’ve received seven of the 9 ODIs performed right here. However, Sunday turned out to be a catastrophe. “It has been a good ground for us but we didn’t bat well today. We didn’t apply ourselves. Even when you lose a couple of early wickets, it is important to create a partnership or two to get back into the game. I don’t think we batted well enough and that was a failure from our side. When you have only 117 on the board, the batters have nothing to lose, and they try to swing the bat and get off to a good start. Once that happens, they keep putting the pressure on. At times, we have done that like in England when we had to chase 110 and we did it in 12 or 13 overs if I am not wrong. Today’s failure was our batting,” he stated.
Asked if the highest order was a priority, he stated: “This is just two games that the top order has not done too well. It has been literally on fire in the last six games we played. Lot of the top order batters have got big runs in the previous games. When we need to look into it, we will definitely do it but right now it’s not the time.”
On going through a left-arm seamer like Mitchell Starc, he stated: “When you have a quality bowler in the opposition, he is bound to take wickets. He is obviously trying his best and it doesn’t matter whether it is a left-arm or a right-arm bowler. If we lose wickets it is a concern – whether it is to a right-hander or a left-armer is not the issue. We look into all sorts of things like how we are getting out and come up with better plans, methods etc. That’s about it and honestly it’s just two games that the top order hasn’t done well.”
Asked if the group is lacking Jasprit Bumrah, Rohti stated: “Bumrah has been absent for more than eight months now and so the team has got used to it. It is very hard to fill Bumrah’s shoes as he is a quality bowler but now that he is not available for us, let’s not keep thinking about him. We have to move ahead, and the guys have taken the responsibility and did pretty well. Siraj, Shami and Shardul have done well and we also have Umran and Jaydev too. They have done the job for us on many occasions.”
On the ultimate sport in Chennai, the Indian skipper stated: “I think it will not be the same in Chennai. The guys have played enough ODIs and will figure out how to tackle the bowlers. We don’t know the conditions we will get in Chennai, but we need to face it up and play well. We trust our skills and do what is needed at the hour.”
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com