3 Players who can replace Rohit Sharma for ODI series against New Zealand

India have been on a roll on their New Zealand. It was deemed as a tough tour for them but Virat Kohli and his men blanked the hosts in the five-match T20I series. However, during the fifth and final game of the series, the stand-in skipper Rohit Sharma injured his calf while taking a quick single and was retired hurt as well. In what seemed to be a casual injury then, has come as a blow for the team as Rohit has been ruled out of the upcoming ODI and Test series.

India are scheduled to play three ODIs from February 5 and the team will have to look for a quick replacement for the Indian opener. With India A side currently in New Zealand itself, the team management is expected to pick a player based on the performances in the three-match unofficial ODI series. With Shikhar Dhawan also injured and KL Rahul set to bat at five, two new openers are likely to walk out to bat in the first ODI for India on Wednesday.

As Rohit Sharma is ruled out now, here we bring you the three players who can replace him in the ODI squad for the three-match series.

Three players who can replace Rohit Sharma in the ODI squad for NZ series:

1. Mayank Agarwal

Well, this seems to be the obvious name at the moment given the way he has played in the domestic circuit over the years. Mayank Agarwal has been always around with his exceptional batting and was also called up to the World Cup squad last year in England after Vijay Shankar was ruled out.

In the three-match One-Day series against New Zealand A, he couldn’t pile up runs but looked confident during his stay in the middle. Agarwal notched up 130 runs in five matches on the tour (two warm-up matches and three One-Dayers) at an average of 26 and opened alongside Shaw in three of those matches.

The Karnataka lad deserves an opportunity as he has proved his mettle in the domestic cricket time and again. As he was part of India’s Test team during the home season, Mayank played only two matches in Vijay Hazare Trophy and scored 116 runs with an unbeaten half-century to his name (69*). Overall, in his List A career, the 28-year-old has amassed 3999 runs in 84 innings at an average of 49.37 with 13 centuries and 15 fifties.

Mayank seems to be the perfect replacement for Rohit Sharma and can be an ideal foil to Prithvi Shaw who likes to go after the bowling from the word go.