• Home
  • Cricket News
  • Ind Vs Wi Rohit Sharma Explains Decision To Leave Shreyas Iyer Out Of First T20i

IND vs WI | Rohit Sharma explains decision to leave Shreyas Iyer out of first T20I

As it happened, Team India registered a thumping win over the West Indies by six wickets and claimed a 1-0 in a three-match T20 series. Opting to bowl first, skipper Rohit marshalled his troops on the field and spinner Ravi Bishnoi made his international cricket debut.


As India decided to go in with the combination of Rishabh Pant, Suryakumar Yadav and Venkatesh Iyer in the middle-order, Shreyas Iyer, unfortunately, failed to make a cut to the playing XI.


Iyer, who had just smashed a match-winning 80-run in the last ODI of the recently-concluded series, was surprisingly left out of India's playing XI. The side did not have enough bowling options and that is the reason they preferred Venkatesh over Shreyas, revealed Rohit.


"Someone like Shreyas Iyer is sitting out, very hard on him not making it to playing eleven, but we needed someone to bowl in the middle which is why we couldn't get him in," Rohit said in the post-match presentation.


"It's always nice with that kind of competition going around and a lot of the guys are missing out as well. I'm happy to have that kind of challenges rather than not having players available and not in form.”


With India in search of a quality all-rounder, Iyer may not be seen in India's T20 jersey very often. However, the captain asserted that the 27-year-old is clear about his position in the team.


"We were very clear with Shreyas and we told him we want that option going into the World Cup. Guys do understand what the team wants and all these guys are professionals and they do understand that team comes first. Once everyone is available it's something we need to sit down and understand," the India captain stated.


"Lots of things to take into consideration and sometimes it can be very tough on the guys missing out, but we want to make sure that we give out a clear message with guys performing needs to get that run and we want to put the team first. I have been talking to him (Ishan) for a long time now when he was playing with Mumbai Indians in the middle order which wasn't his natural position," Rohit concluded.


Meanwhile, Shreyas Iyer was announced as the skipper of the Kolkata Knight Riders yesterday by the two-time Indian Premier League champions. 

Discover more
Top Stories
news

PSL 2022 | Multan secure playoffs spot after late revival against Karachi

Multan Sultans became the first team in the Pakistan Super to reach the playoffs this season after a tight win against Karachi Kings on Wednesday, 16 February. It was agonisingly close for Karachi on the day as they lost their control over the opponents in the final six overs of the game and let them run away. The loss promoted a series of responses in the social media stating that it could only have been the Babar Azam-led team that could have lost the game from a comfortable position. Defending a decent total of 174 runs, Karachi kept the lid on Multan Sultans for a very long time, choking out the two openers in Shan Masood and the prolific Mohammad Rizwan. A struggling innings from Multan openers The pair batted together till the 14th over of the game, but managed to only score 99 runs at a run rate of just 7.07. Looking at the building required rate, Shan Masood knew that he had to cut loose but got out trying to do that in the second ball of the 15th over and it felt like Multan were in grave trouble. Masood scored a struggling 45 off 41 balls - an innings that had six boundaries. As Masood left, the onus put on Riwaz who had gotten up to a 47-ball 52 at that point. Knowing that he could not wait any longer, Rizwan went after Umaid Asif, throwing his bat at everything. He scored 18 off the 16th over. His luck ran out in the very next over and he got out to Chris Jordan trying to slash one hard over cover point. But by that time Rizwan had accelerated at 260 SR after getting his half century and laid the foundation for the rest of the guys. At the time of getting out, Rizwan had scored 76 off 56 and Multan needed 45 off the last 20 balls. And that’s where it showed, the batting depth the squad carries with them. The turnaround The last three batsmen that walked out scored at an excess of 180 SR to balance out the scales for the team. First, Tim David played a cameo of 13 off 7 deliveries, hitting Jordan for two boundaries the second he walked in. Once he was removed from the game, Khushdil Shah and Rilee Rossouw took it to the opposition, smashing 20 runs from the penultimate over. Chris Jordan who had just given 15 off his first two in the early stages of the innings, got the game turned on its head after Rizwan and the Multan lower order attacked him in the 16th and the 19th over respectively. He finished the game with 50 off his four overs and was a big reason behind Multan’s turnaround in the game. 9 off the last 6 deliveries was never going to be a problem for Multan as Russouw finished the game with a huge over mid wicket. Similar themes for Karachi Earlier in the first innings, Karachi struggled to get going for the first 10 overs. Babar Azam had yet another poor outing on the day, getting out on 2 runs off four balls in the second over. He had hoped that DRS would save him from the LBW appeal, but that did not turn out to be the case. On the other end, Sharjeel Khan had an off day as well, batting at a strike rate of 80 for the larger part of his innings. Half through their batting effort it never looked like Karachi could actually score big in the game, given they were struggling at 67/1. Things sunk further with Joe Clarke getting out at 40 off 29 while trying to accelerate the run rate, and Karachi were stuck at 77/2 at that point. Strong finish With acceleration being the need of the hour, young Rohail Nazir played a cameo of 21 off 12 to begin the counter attacking process. The young right hander got out trying to cut Blessing Muzarabani and in the 15th over but by then the game had shifted the momentum. Imad Wasim took it on from there and he along with Mohammad Nabi posted 56 runs in the last 5 overs to take Karachi to a respectable score. Multan did not win; Karachi lost The game was as much Multan’s win as it was Karachi’s loss. The Babar Azam side was better for most part of the day, barring the final four overs that took the game away from them. With the loss, Karachi have now lost 8 in a row and this tournament might soon turn them against one another. On the other hand, joy was visible on Rizwan’s face after the win but he admitted in the post match interview that Multan were very lucky as they did not deserve to win the game. With two more games left to go before the playoffs stages, this win sets Multan perfectly before the walk into the knockout stage of the tournament, while Karachi will still be looking for answers to the question that they have not been able to solve throughout the tournament.

news

IND vs WI | Suryakumar Yadav & Rohit Sharma hold India strong in first T20I

India registered a 6-wicket victory against West Indies at Eden Gardens on Wednesday, 16 February. Two belligerent innings from Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav set India on the path of victory despite their other players struggling for most of the innings. Chasing 158 on a pitch that slightly gripped, Rohit Shamra got off to a belligerent start at his favourite venue and scored 40 off 19 before holing Roston Chase out to mid wicket. While the captain was off to a flyer, his Mumbai Indians understudy Ishan Kishan struggled to find timing and scored an underwhelming 35 off 42 and once again fell victim to Roston Chase in the deep. Virat Kohli looked good for his 17 but was caught at long off by Kieron Pollard while trying to clear Fabian Allen. Just when runs were becoming scarce Suryakumar Yadav showed his ability once again and brought his full repertoire of shots to the party, scoring all over the ground. 35 off 18 got the runs flowing once again and introduction of Venkatesh Iyer after Rishab Pant’s soft dismissal helped. He started hitting boundaries from the word go and scored 24 off 13 on the other end helping India chase down 158 with 7 balls remaining. Earlier in the innings, West Indies’ conservative approach to their batting in the first 10 overs turned out to be the writing on the wall. They struggled to hit the pacers early on and then could not get away debutant Ravi Bishnoi. All among Brandon King, Rovman Powell and Roston Chase failed to score while Kyle Mayers put on a struggling 31 off 24 balls. This meant that Nicholas Pooran dug deep and latched on to his crease till the time he could start getting his shots away. Pooran stayed till the 18th over of the match and scored an exciting 61 off 43 balls which was laden with 4 boundaries and 5 sixes. Barring the left hander, Kieron Pollard also scored 24 off 19 to take Windies to a safe score which turned out to be too low on the day. Ravi Bishnoi was declared the player of the match for his great outing of 4-0-17-2; he admitted being nervous at the start of the game resulted in a lot of wides getting bowled. He stated that he understands his strengths and he will work on them in the next matches. With the win, India have stretched their run of win to four matches and will look to continue it in the next two games remaining in the series.