“Always we are in testing mode”- Fans frustrated as Rohit Sharma wants to test Indian batters in pressure situation during Asia Cup

Fans express displeasure on X as Rohit says the team will keep testing players in different situations.

“Always we are in testing mode”- Fans frustrated as Rohit Sharma wants to test Indian batters in pressure situation during Asia Cup

Rohit Sharma in press conference (image via HT)

Indian Captain Rohit Sharma said that the team wants to keep testing their batsmen to handle pressure situations in the upcoming 2023 Asia Cup. The Indian team hasn’t yet announced the squad for the Asia Cup, but it is presumed that the team might go with the same squad from the West Indies tour, with just the additions of pacers Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj. 

Captain Rohit and Team India have been preparing for the 2023 Men’s ODI World Cup for a long time, but long-term injuries to important players have dented their plans. KL Rahul picked up a thigh injury during the Indian Premier League, Shreyas Iyer had an impinged nerve caused due to a bulged disc on his lower back during the 4th Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and Jasprit Bumrah was out with a stress fracture on his lower back.

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He had the same injury in 2019, a few weeks after the ODI World Cup. Rishabh Pant had a car accident in December 2022 while driving on the Delhi-Dehradun Highway and his car hit a divider. He tore a ligament on his right knee and suffered injuries on his right wrist, toe, and ankle. Although Pant has just started to face 140+ deliveries in the nets, he is far from making a comeback.

Due to these injuries, the Indian team has had to try various different batsmen to cover for Pant, Rahul, and Iyer. Suryakumar Yadav, Sanju Samson, and Ishan Kishan have all batted in the middle order, with the Indian team hoping they could replace the injured players with them in preparation for the World Cup. 

In the recent ODI series against West Indies which India won 2-1, Rohit and head coach Rahul Dravid shifted the batting order. In the 1st ODI, Ishan Kishan was made to open the batting. SKY, who usually bats at 4 or 5, was sent in place of Kohli at 3. All-rounders Ravindra Jadeja and Hardik Pandya were made to bat in the middle order. In the 2nd ODI, Rohit and Kohli were “dropped” and the batting order had been shifted again, with the highlight being Axar Patel coming in to bat at 4. 

Also Read: BCCI gets called “most incompetent cricket board” as ICC released revised ODI World Cup schedule with nine games rescheduled

Check out the fans’ reaction to Rohit Sharma’s statement

indian team management
Rahul Dravid and Rohit Sharma (Image via Twitter)

Most fans were frustrated at the team management for not fixing a proper middle-order months before the ODI World Cup begins. And now, Rohit stating that the team will experiment during the Asia Cup has left fans raging. Many have expressed how unhappy they are with Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid for being this unprepared for the World Cup, for which India is the host. Check out the spectrum of reactions below.

https://twitter.com/CricketFreakD3/status/1689601182321545216?s=20
https://twitter.com/SatiricalEddy/status/1689600845212418049?s=20
https://twitter.com/Ashwal7A/status/1689604821983346689?s=20

With the important ODI World Cup just two months away, India still has a lot of things to put in place and hopefully, get all their problems fixed.

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