Team India Missing Rohit Sharma Really Badly: Dodda Ganesh

Former Indian cricketer Dodda Ganesh has touched on the factors that cost India the ODI series in Australia. Australia swept the feet off India’s ground with their explosive batting performances in the first two ODIs, handing them a convincing series victory. Dodda Ganesh reckons that India is sorely missing the services of Rohit Sharma, who did not participate in the white-ball games.

Rohit Sharma, who is a stalwart in ODI cricket and has experience of playing down under, had to be ruled out of the limited-overs games in Australia due to not being wholly deemed fit. With the 33-year old missing from the series, the tourists missed not only a tactician but also a potent top-order batsman. Australia, who batted first in both the matches, piled on 374 and 389 respectively and India needed strong opening partnerships to overhaul those; however, they lost by 66 and 51 runs.

Dodda Ganesh hailed Rohit Sharma as an outstanding cricketer and a game-changer, feeling disappointed that he was not fit. The 47-year old remained confident that Rohit’s presence would have mattered a whole lot and things would have been different in that case.

“Team India is missing Rohit Sharma really badly. He is a great cricketer and a game-changer. His presence gives big strength to the team. I am disappointed that he is not there as he is not fit. His presence would have mattered a lot for Team India in the ODI series. Things would have been different for the team if Rohit was there,” Ganesh said as quoted by Times of India.

Switching from T20Is to ODIs isn’t easy: Dodda Ganesh

Dodda Ganesh further said that shifting formats is indeed challenging and India had not played ODIs for a long time either. The Karnataka-born former cricketer also blamed the selectors for picking the squad based on the T20 performances and not One-day international ones.

“These guys have not played ODIs for a long time. Switching from T20Is to ODIs isn’t easy. They lost months due to COVID-19. But the most important thing is that selectors should have picked the team on the basis of ODI performances, not T20s. That’s what they have done and the results are in front of us,” he added.

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