“When Will Children Get Chance?”Why Senior Players Were Not Considering to Replace Virat Kohli: Rohit Sharma

Days before India and England’s first Test match of the series in Hyderabad, Virat Kohli withdrew, leaving the team management to face a difficult challenge in trying to find a suitable substitute to fill the void created by the batting maestro’s absence.

Kohli will miss the opening two Tests of the five-match series against England due to personal concerns.

Given the level of expertise Kohli has, it would have been wise to turn to someone like Ajinkya Rahane or Cheteshwar Pujara, who are both not presently included in the Test lineup, given the challenge England may provide.

But according to a number of media sources, India may not give Pujara or Rahane a chance and would instead give a younger player a chance, with Rajar Patidar emerging as the front-runner.

India captain Rohit Sharma said on the eve of the game that bringing up an experienced player without naming them may have been a possibility, but this also offers a chance to try out a younger player.

“Yeah, look, you might have assumed that [referring to a veteran player] we really gave it some consideration, but when will these younger guys get their chance? We also considered it,” Rohit said on Wednesday.

It is quite difficult to ignore or undervalue an experienced player due to their quantity of runs scored, experience, and victories in games. We find it quite difficult to disregard any of that, but sometimes you have to include certain players in your setup and provide them with your ideal circumstances, he said.

According to Rohit, it’s crucial to take advantage of the opportunity to offer an inexperienced player a taste of what it’s like to play red-ball cricket at the international level since they don’t want to subject them to unfamiliar circumstances.

“You don’t want to expose them or send them on tours abroad where they haven’t performed before. That, I believe, is the underlying idea of everything. Whenever there is a chance, we should make an effort to include some of these young people, he said.