Indian skipper Rohit Sharma said that batter Shubman Gill has missed playing Xl for the fourth test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy due to the team’s bowling combinations.
Following a 184-run defeat Indian captain in the Boxing Day Test at Melbourne, India captain Rohit Sharma cited bowling combinations as the reason.
Speaking at the post-match conference, Rohit Sharma said that Shubman Gill was not dropped from the playing Xl. He added that the team went for an extra all-rounder for which Gill was left behind.
“The chat with him was that he was not dropped. We just wanted to have that extra bit of cushion in the bowling and hence we opted for an all-rounder, which shouldn’t weaken our bowling line-up.”
“Compromising a batter for a bowler was not something I wanted to do, we wanted to bat as deep as possible, and along with that have a bowling attack which could take 20 wickets, you know, so we considered everything and we ended up compromising him unfortunately,” Rohit said in the post-match press conference.
“We wanted to bat as deep as possible and along with that have the same combination to have a bowling attack which can take 20 wickets.”
“So we considered everything and we ended up compromising him unfortunately, but again look with him there was never a doubt that he was not batting well or he was not scoring runs or anything like that, it was just to get that combination where we can cover both bases, batting and bowling. We opted for that option of course.”
“I mean everyone has to understand that because eventually we don’t make personal decisions. It is in the best interest of the team, we want to put the team ahead and thing about what is the right combination for this particular venue and this opposition.”
“So that’s how I plan… sometimes you can see there’s been a lot of changes in the team but sometimes (have) you got to make sure that whatever suits the conditions, suits your team and where you cover all sides, the facets of the game, you make that decision and that’s what we do,” he added.
Rohit also said that they will take the call for change in playing Xl for the Sydney Tests when they get there and assess conditions. The fifth match of the Australia-India tests will begin on January 03 at Sydney Cricket Ground.
