cricket

Updated: Nov 08, 2019 08:32 IST

Indian captain Rohit Sharma wants to give an extended run to the new players in the side in the T20I series. The right-hander believes that this format presents the best chance to the youngsters to blossom and find their feet in international cricket before progressing to the other formats. “It doesn’t mean that we have to not win games. Winning is the priority, but again these guys will learn from it. This is how a lot of guys, including me, learnt. That’s how it happens,’ Rohit said ahead of the second T20I in Rajkot.

“This is the format where these individuals can come out and express themselves so they’re ready for ODI and Test cricket also. We’ve seen a lot of players who have emerged from this format and have gone on to play ODIs and Tests. We want our bench strength to be as strong as possible so this is probably the reason why you see so many new guys coming into the fray,” the skipper added.

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The young bowling attack could not handle the pressure in the first T20I and was dealt expertly by the experienced Bangladesh batsmen, especially in the middle and death overs. However, Rohit does not want to jump the gun and point fingers at the players as he is willing to give them further chances to bolster their case.

“Pressure is just on the team to perform and on no particular department,” he said. “You’ve lost as a team, not lost as a bowling unit. The focus will be on the team to perform so collectively all of us need to come together.

“Bowlers need to come and get crucial wickets and defend the score. That’ll be the idea. We aren’t focusing on one department. We lost as a team and not as individuals.”