Former Indian wicket-keeper batsman and now commentator Deep Dasgupta believes if Rohit Sharma has to play the third T20I then the logical thing to do is to rest out-of-form KL Rahul.
Rahul has returned with scores of 0, 1, 0 in his last three T20I outings and he has struggled to get going.
Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma has been rested from the first two T20Is despite being in top form with the bat in the four-match Test series against England. Rohit had top-scored for the hosts in the series as he had amassed 345 runs in the seven innings he played.
Shikhar Dhawan had opened the innings with KL Rahul in the first T20I whereas Ishan Kishan made his debut in the second game. Earlier, before the series, the Indian skipper Virat Kohli had stated that KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma will be the first-choice opening partnership of the team. But then Kohli mentioned that Rohit will rest for a couple of matches.
However, as Ishan Kishan has grabbed his opportunity in his debut match, he is expected to retain his place in the final XI.
“Yes, KL Rahul. He has been brilliant but in the last two games, he has been out of sorts which is understandable as he has not played cricket in a while. You know the last competitive cricket he played was against Australia in December. So keeping all that in mind I can understand,” Dasgupta said while talking to Sports Today.
“Virat [Kohli] mentioned that Rohit will rest for two and two is gone. And Ishan has played the way he has. So it’s a big call to take whether you rest Rahul and get Rohit. It’s the logical thing to do. I think the way Ishan batted and you need someone like that especially in this format and can bat fearlessly,” he added.
“Rishabh [Pant] batting at 4 was a good idea to get that momentum going. If Rohit has to play the logical line will be KL Rahul has to rest.”
Meanwhile, Virat Kohli had also suggested that the Indian batsmen will look to play freely in the ongoing series against England.
On the other hand, the remaining three T20Is of the series will be played behind closed doors due to the rising number of Covid-19 cases in Gujarat.
The third T20I will take place at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad today.
