Virat Kohli Defends Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan After Poor Show In Warm-up Games

After losing four consecutive 50-over games (3ODIs, 1 warm-up), Team India finally got back to winning ways on Tuesday. The Virat Kohli-led side thrashed Bangladesh by 95 runs in their second and final warm-up game to prepare for the World Cup in style. It was a near clinical show from Team India as they dominated with both bat and ball to make light work of the Tigers.

Asked to bat first, India posted a mammoth 359 for 7. KL Rahul and MS Dhoni starred with the bat by scoring centuries each. The bowlers then complemented the batsmen’s effort by bowling out Bangladesh for just 264. However, one big concern for Team India was the performance of their star openers – Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma.

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The two flopped for the second game in a row.  Dhawan had scores of 1 and 2 while Rohit scored 2 and 19 against New Zealand and Bangladesh respectively. However, skipper Virat Kohli has said he has no worries regarding the form of the openers ahead of the World Cup.

“We have had two good challenges in the two games while batting first. Shikhar and Rohit are quality players, they become stars in ICC events. Ideally we would have liked to chase today. I understand if guys don’t get going right away in this format. In warm-up games, at times, you don’t get the motivation especially because the amount of cricket that we play. But I am glad with what we got out of these two games,” Virat Kohli said after the match.

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Kohli also had a word of praise for spin duo Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal. Both the spinners showed encouraging form by picking up three wickets each.

“We were challenged by their batsmen as well but we bowled well and our spinners got wickets too. Bumrah got us the breakthrough and Chahal and Kuldeep got us six wickets,” Virat Kohli said.

India will start their World Cup campaign on June 5 against South Africa.