Rohit wants longer run for middle-order aspirants

DUBAI: Rohit Sharma, India’s victorious stand-in captain, wants those auditioning for the Nos. 4 and 6 spots in the One-Day International sides to get more opportunities in the next few months, even if team dynamics change when Virat Kohli takes over the leadership.

“The guys who were here had the ability to win matches for the team,” Rohit said. “They’ve won matches for their state or IPL (Indian Premier League) teams. No one took extra pressure because some players weren’t available. We want to create an environment where boys come in, play carefree, and not think that this is an international match and we need to change our game.

“As a management, it is our duty to give the players that freedom to go play like they play at the club or domestic level. At the start of the tournament, we discussed this and gave them a clear message: ‘treat this like you’re playing for your domestic team, nothing to change.’ It was very important to give them this message, to ensure there’s no insecurity within.”

At his pre-tournament press conference, Rohit had advocated for continuity, and he stuck to it through the Asia Cup.

India gave six straight opportunities to Ambati Rayudu, Dinesh Karthik and Kedar Jadhav to further strengthen their cases for a middle-order berth with next year’s World Cup in mind.

Among them, Rayudu displayed his versatility in batting at different positions. He scored a half-century apiece as an opener and at No. 3 against Afghanistan and Hong Kong respectively, while Karthik made 146 runs in five innings at No. 4, largely playing the role of an accumulator on sluggish surfaces where batting required a certain degree of patience and calm. Those included scores of 33, 31 not out, 1 not out, 44 and 37.

Jadhav impressed with his wicket-taking abilities in the middle overs, apart from making a crucial unbeaten 23 in the final despite an injured right hamstring.

“I think we pretty much have clarity. Those at No. 4 and No. 6 need to get more games as the World Cup comes closer,” Rohit said. “It’s too early to judge or say they’ve sealed the spot. I shouldn’t be saying that because right now is not the time.

“The next few tournaments that we’re going to play will probably be ideal for us to judge as a management and see where they stand.

“When we came here, I wanted to give them the assurance first that they will play all the games. That’s how you make players. You give them the assurance of going and playing freely without taking pressure.

“If you know that you’re going to be dropped after two games, it’s not easy for anyone. I think it is important to keep that team consistently going, and that is something that we spoke at the start of the tournament.

“I wanted to give everybody a fair run and play more games. That’s how you will understand a player’s capability because in one-odd game you can’t judge. You need quite a few games.”

Rohit himself registered scores of 23, 52, 83 not out, 111 not out and 48, thereby proving captaincy had little effect on his batting.

He delivered two half-century opening stands and a double-century opening stand with Shikhar Dhawan, all in match-winning causes. The flip side of this consistency was less-than-ideal batting time for the middle order.

The near-failed chase against Afghanistan in a tie and their mini-collapse in the final notwithstanding, Rohit was reasonably happy with the middle order’s performances. “As far as the batting goes, middle order didn’t get as many chances as we wanted them to, because the top-order batsmen batted quite a lot in the tournament,” Rohit said.

“But whenever they’ve got chances, they’ve shown signs of handling pressure well. It’s a different issue that they didn’t finish it off, but I think they handled the pressure well.”

Rohit was effusive in his praise for Ravindra Jadeja, who made an ODI comeback at the Asia Cup after more than a year. In his very first outing, he bagged a four-for, while his fielding and lower-order batting -- the knocks where he failed to finish off notwithstanding -- providing soothing signs to a unit intent on finding back-ups for every spot.

That Jadeja returned was because of Hardik Pandya's back spasms that ruled him out of the competition.

With the ball, Jadeja's no-frills variety helped deliver crucial breakthroughs, but his impact on the field earned him plaudits.