Rohit Sharma To Be Rested For Sri Lanka T20Is: Report

Rohit Sharma has had a monumental 2019 with the bat. The India star finished the year on top of the list of batsmen with the most runs in ODIs, ahead of his skipper Virat Kohli. Rohit Sharma ended up with 1490 runs in 28 ODIs at 57.30 with 7 hundreds and 6 half-centuries while Kohli amassed 1377 runs in 26 matches at 59.86 with five centuries and 7 fifties.

Five of those seven centuries came in this year’s World Cup. Overall, Rohit Sharma amassed a staggering 2,442 runs in international cricket this year which is most by an opener in a calendar year. Rohit has been playing non-stop cricket this year and has also cemented his place in the Test team as opener. In the ongoing home series, he has played each and every game so far.

Rohit Sharma to be rested:

Rohit Sharma is now finally set to be rested for the upcoming series against Sri Lanka. India will kickstart 2020 with a three-match T20I series against the islanders at home. The series will start at Guwahati on January 5 while the second and third game will be held in Indore (January 7) and Pune (January 10) respectively.

“The selectors normally don’t give rest to anyone in the T20 team, but Rohit has been on the road for quite a while now. He has informed the Board that he wants to take rest for this series,” a BCCI source told The Times of India.

Rohit did need a break after a hectic 2019. He has been playing non-stop cricket since the start of the year. Rohit’s break, however, will be a short one as he will return to action for the ODI series against Australia towards the end of January. In Rohit Sharma’s absence, Shikhar Dhawan is likely to open the innings against Sri Lanka. He will partner KL Rahul at the top of the order. Dhawan has not played for India since the T20I series against Bangladesh.

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He was part of the T20I and ODI series against West Indies but was later ruled out due to a knee injury he had sustained in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. The Sri Lanka series will be a chance for Dhawan to prove himself again. The senior opener has looked off-colour in recent times and with KL Rahul doing extremely well, the left-hander needs to hit the ground running.