As Team India shifts its focus to red-ball format again, they are set to face Ben Stoke & Co. in a five-match series which begins Thursday in Hyderabad. It is England’s first tour of India since introducing the concept of ‘Bazball’ which has been a massive success at the venues where the tracks offer pace and bounce in abundance. However, the much-hyped phenomenon of playing the longest format of the game is yet to be tested on Indian soil.
While a lot has been spoken about England’s way of playing Test cricket, Rohit Sharma doesn’t want to delve into it at all. Addressing the pre-match press conference on Thursday, the Indian skipper said his team has been focusing on their own game instead of of what kind of cricket would the opposition play.
“We’ll look to play our cricket. I’m not interested in looking at how the opposition is going to play and all of that. For us, we must look into our cricket. Focus on what we need to do as a team and then take it from there,” Rohit told the media a day before the series opener at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium, Uppal in Hyderabad.
Rahul won’t keep wickets in the series
Repeating the head coach’s words on KL Rahul, Rohit said the Karnataka batter will not don the wicketkeeping gloves in the series. It’s a fact that Rahul has been keeping wicket since his post-injury return last year. However, the team management has decided to field a specialist stumper in the Test series against England.
Now that Rahul is set to play as a specialist batter, the toss-up will be between KS Bharat and uncapped Dhruv Jurel. But Rohit, who didn’t give out any name, said the call would be taken depending upon the individual performances.
“Yeah, obviously those are the two keepers [Bharat and Jurel] in the squad. We’ll see and assess the performance. We are obviously looking at the bigger picture. We want to give as many games as possible to the individual. But we’ll assess after every game what happens and what is right for the team. Whatever is right for the team will do the necessary things,” Rohit said.
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