India captain Rohit Sharma had said the team will be trying a few things as they gear up for the 2023 ODI World Cup which starts in around two months’ time. The team has stayed true to his words with the tourists tinkering with their batting order in the first ODI of the ongoing series against West Indies before benching Rohit and Virat Kohli in the next.
The team lost their 1-0 lead in the three-match series with West Indies pulling themselves on level terms with an impressive show during the 2nd match in Barbados.
Rohit, Kohli watched from the dressing room as Indian batting suffered a collapse despite being 90/0 at one stage to be bowled out for 181.
During West Indies’ chase, as the hosts kept inching closer to the target, Rohit was seen having some fun sitting in the team dug-out at the expense of his teammate Yuzvendra Chahal leaving Virat Kohli and Jaydev Unadkat in splits.
Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Yuzi Chahal & Jaydev Unadkat together & having fun at dressing room – Beautiful. pic.twitter.com/Z8A1mkulHX— CricketMAN2 (@ImTanujSingh) July 29, 2023
While in the first ODI, the aim was to give white-ball specialists more game time and with a small target to chase, it was evident why Rohit and Kohli dropped down the order. The team did struggle a bit before overhauling the target.
In the second, they went a step ahead and rested both Rohit and Kohli while picking Sanju Samson and Axar Patel. Interestingly, Chahal was ignored again with Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar manning the spin department.
Neither of the two changes worked for the tourists though. Samson batted at No. 3 and managed 9 off 19 while Axar scored 1 off eight after walking in next.
Axar bowled two overs for four runs without taking a wicket as West Indies chased down the target in 36.4 overs to force a decider.
The third and final match will be played on Tuesday at Brian Lara Stadium in Trinidad.
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