“India cracked batting order for semifinals”- Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid tinkering with Team India’s batting order in 1st IND vs WI ODI does not sit well with fans

Rohit Sharma came to bat at No.7.

“India cracked batting order for semifinals”- Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid tinkering with Team India’s batting order in 1st IND vs WI ODI does not sit well with fans

Rohit Sharma shakes hands after winning 1st ODI (Image via TOI Twitter)

India took on West Indies in the first ODI of the three-match series on Thursday (27 July). Rohit Sharma opted to bowl first after winning the toss and India did not have much problem bowling out the West Indies. The Shai Hope-led team could only last for 23 overs wherein the West Indies managed 114 runs. 

Kuldeep Yadav starred for India with his four-wicket haul. Ravindra Jadeja also picked up three wickets while Hardik Pandya, Mukesh Kumar, and Shardul Thakur got a wicket each. While the first inning was not that much trouble for India, the second inning was full of surprises.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoUR5KyQOsc&pp=ygUPdGVhbSBpbmRpYSBvZGlz

The first surprise came in the form of new opening pair, Ishan Kishan and Shubman Gill. While it seemed like an understandable move from the Indian team management, the tinkering with the rest of the batting order surely threw the fans offshore. 

After Gill was dismissed, Suryakumar Yadav came out to bat at No.3, not Virat Kohli. After Yadav’s dismissal, Hardik Pandya walked out followed by Ravindra Jadeja and Shardul Thakur. With five wickets gone, captain Rohit Sharma finally walked out to bat. 

Also Read: Arjun Tendulkar ready to compete with Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli, flaunts his six-pack abs on Instagram

Fans don’t like such an overhaul in Team India’s batting order in World Cup year

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

Although India won the game by five wickets, Indian fans were left irritated with such an overhaul in the batting order. While they did not mind a few changes here and there, fans were not okay with too much experimenting. A few fans also pointed out the shambolic batting show.

Check out the reactions. 

It is worth mentioning that the last time Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma did not bat in the top three was way back in 2011 and interestingly against the West Indies. However, Rohit Sharma defended the move saying they wanted to give more game time to young players.

“We wanted to give game time to the ODI guys who have come in, we will keep trying those things whenever possible,” said Rohit (via Cricbuzz) at the post-match presentation.

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