If Rohit and Kohli aren’t participating, what’s the point? An Ex-Selector Is Perplexed as to Why India Benched the Batting Stars

With less than a month before the Asia Cup and less than two months till the World Cup, the Indian squad is using the three-match ODI series against the West Indies as an opportunity to offer additional playing experience to its white-ball specialists.

It is wise to offer players who haven’t played much cricket recently since there aren’t many ODIs remaining before the two major tournaments. The second part of this scheme, however, is for benching or demoting the seniors who participate in all or at least two forms.

In the second One-Day International, skipper Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli sat in the team’s dressing room and watched as their colleagues lost to West Indies by a margin of five wickets, tying the series at one.

Both were rested for the game as India continued its experiment, which saw a significant reorganization of the batting order during the series opener.

Rahul Dravid, the head coach of India, has noted that there isn’t much time left to offer individuals a chance to participate in a match, which is why some unexpected selections were made.

Saba Karim, a former India wicketkeeper and selector, claims that benching regular players will prevent them from getting playing time before to the world cup.

Karim added on JioCinema that “the regular players also need time to handle these challenges.” “At number 4, you’re expecting Shreyas Iyer would show up, but keep in mind that he’ll also need some time to get rolling. One of your backups is there. Is it Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan, or Suryakumar Yadav? You must construct the batting order in this manner if they are, otherwise. While it was wonderful that we had the opportunity to bat first today, it would have been perfect if we had the correct batting order. Batting first was a struggle for us.

According to him, it makes little sense to choose veterans like Rohit and Kohli for the current ODI series if the intention is to give other players more playing time.

Why are Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma not participating, too? If they aren’t playing, what’s the sense of bringing them along? Why not hire new people then? Since the World Cup is quickly approaching, they need to be participating, added Karim.