Rohit Sharma opposes Gautam Gambhir's idea of batters bowling, says he doesn't want to bowl
Published - 02 Aug 2024, 02:44 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 01:16 AM
India National Cricket Team skipper Rohit Sharma discussed the possibility of him rolling his arm over in the ongoing ODI series against the Sri Lanka National Cricket Team. The captain said that he would be focusing on his batting as they have many options in the team.
India and Sri Lanka are up against each other in the first match of the three-match ODI series. The match between the teams is taking place at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Friday (2nd August) and it has seen the return of big guns for the finalists of the ICC World 2023.
India captain Rohit Sharma is also back and is leading the team, having won the T20 World Cup 2024 in June this year. The batter has retired from the shortest format of the game and will now be focusing on the ODIs and the Tests, with his first game being today after the T20 World Cup.
The ongoing game against Sri Lanka National Cricket Team also marks the first ODI game for Gautam Gambhir as the head coach. He kickstarted his coaching stint with the T20I series against Sri Lanka and during that series, we already saw how he will be operating as the coach.
India captain Rohit Sharma lost the toss in the first ODI as the team was asked to field first. The opening batter talked about the team combination and highlighted that they had a lot of positives for them in the World Cup 2023 even though they didn't win. Speaking at the toss, he explained:
"Good pitch. We have played a lot of cricket here and know the conditions. There have been a lot of changes; I am back, and so are Virat, KL and Shreyas Iyer. Kuldeep also comes back in. Dube is also playing. We have a pretty decent balance. We had a great World Cup, we didn't cross the finishing line but there were a lot of positives."
Not really, I will focus on my batting - Rohit Sharma on whether he will bowl
India used batters to roll their arm in the T20I series and it is expected that something similar might be on the fray in the ongoing ODI series. With Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, and others in the team, it won't be a surprise if they bowl a few overs in the series.
However, skipper Rohit Sharma cleared it that he won't be bowling as his prime focus will be on his batting. He stressed that they have a lot of bowlers in the squad and he will be using them. He added:
"We have created an atmosphere where guys can come in and play with freedom. Not really (on whether he will bowl), I will focus on my batting. We have enough bowlers in the squad that can roll their arm over."
Here's the Indian XI for the first ODI against Sri Lanka
Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(w), Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Siraj
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