'One blow of Shaheen Afridi changed your openers' - Aaqib Javed feels Rohit Sharma should have opened instead of 'hiding'

Former Pakistan player Aaqib Javed feels that Shaheen Shah Afridi’s devastating new-ball spell against India on October 24 in Dubai was why the team altered their opening combination against New Zealand, who defeated India by eight wickets to make it two losses in a row.

Notably, Afridi had removed both Rohit and KL Rahul inside the powerplay on the day to leave India reeling. Unable to recover from those early setbacks, India could manage to just drag themselves past 150 before Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam’s unbeaten half-centuries took Pakistan to a 10-wicket win.

Against New Zealand, the Indian batting unit failed to click again, being restricted to a below-par total of 110/7 from their 20 overs before New Zealand chased the target down with 5.3 overs and eight wickets to spare. In a move that left many surprised, India sent Rohit Sharma at No.3, with a new-look opening pair of Rahul and Ishan Kishan, who came in the team to replace the injured Suryakumar Yadav.

Understandably, India took the call to maintain a left-right combination at the top to counter the left-arm threat of Trent Boult. However, the decision did not bear any positive results as Kishan perished to Boult for just 4 while Rahul was undone by Tim Southee for 18. Meanwhile, Rohit, who was reprieved on the first ball of his innings when Adam Milne dropped him in the deep, failed to make a mark too, as he perished for an uncharacteristic run-a-ball 14.

“Rohit Sharma is one of the best players in T20 cricket but after one blow of Shaheen Shah Afridi, you changed your openers. You brought in Ishan Kishan as he is a leftie because they were afraid of putting two righties against [Trent] Boult, so Rohit was made to bat at number three,” Javed told PTV Sports.

“It was only two overs [opening spell] and being one of the best in the world, Rohit should have gone out as an opener rather than hiding. It’s all about confidence. If your number one player is not confident and ready to take the charge, it sends the same message to the entire team,” he added.

India next plays Afghanistan on November 3 in Abu Dhabi before taking on Scotland and Namibia on November 5 and 8, respectively.