India vs Windies: Bench strength must be tested before the World Cup, says Rohit Sharma

After a stupendous ODI series win, Rohit Sharma will take over the Indian leadership role from Virat Kohli in the T20I series which will kick-start on Sunday at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. This is the format the Windies enjoy the most and the hosts cannot afford to get casual even once during the series. This T20I series hogged a lot of limelight when the squads were announced by the BCCI.

The selectors had decided to drop MS Dhoni from the side, a decision which received severe backlash from the fans and experts. But clearly, the management’s emphasis is mainly on testing the bench strength and Rohit too said the same in the pre-match press conference on Saturday.

Rohit talked at length about Dhoni and how Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik should make the most of these chances. He also talked about the importance of giving certain players a break to ensure their workload is not fatiguing them.

“We need to see what our bench strength is. Resting players and giving them a break is also necessary, keeping the workload and the World Cup ahead, we need to take those necessary steps,” Rohit mentioned.

Rohit excited about the new faces in the side

The interim Indian skipper spoke at length about the two new recruits Shahbaz Nadeem and Krunal Pandya. Krunal and Rohit spent a lot of time together at Mumbai Indians and the latter will be well aware of what the all-rounder brings to the table. The 30-year-old also believes it’s important to understand the right squad before the World Cup.

“And we need to see the guys who are knocking on the door, and what they bring to the table. Come the World Cup, we should be prepared, not just with the 15 players but also those that are outside the 15. Lot of new faces in the team. Shahbaz is coming for the first time, Krunal has been part of the squad but has never played yet. So it’s important for us to also understand what’s the best possible squad for the World Cup,” Rohit added.

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