Rohit lauds Suryakumar, says DK needs more game time ahead of T20 WC

Team India captain Rohit Sharma, who said he was looking for some answers ahead of next month’s T20 World Cup, was a delighted man at the end of the series.

Hyderabad: Having lost the first T20, India bounced back in the next two to clinch the T20 series 2-1 against visiting Australia. The series-deciding third match was a close encounter where the hosts came out triumphant with a six-wicket victory at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Hyderabad on Sunday.

Team India captain Rohit Sharma, who said he was looking for some answers ahead of next month’s T20 World Cup, was a delighted man at the end of the series. “We got whatever we wanted from the series. We ticked a lot of boxes. There will be some areas that we need to improve but overall it was a good series for us, we got to learn a lot,” he said after the series victory.

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Chasing a stiff target, India rode on Suryakumar Yadav’s blitzkrieg (69 off 26) and Virat Kohli’s measured innings (63 off 48) and their century partnership for the third wicket that set them to victory. “In every match, he (Surya) intends to play a notch higher. He seems to be getting better and better. That is a good sign. Today it was an exceptional innings to take the game away in the company of a fantastic Virat Kohli on the other hand. It was a crucial century stand between them. It was great for us the way these two guys batted. There is pressure chasing 180-plus. But they kept backing themselves,” he added.

Despite the result, there are some grey areas India needs to address. Death bowling being the primary one. Bhuvneshwar Kumar has had a tough few games where he conceded loads of runs at the end of the innings, while Harshal Patel who returned from an injury also leaked runs.

Speaking on Bhuvi’s indifferent form, he said, “With Bhuvi, it’s important that we give him that space because when you have a guy like him in the team and the quality that he brings, we know that he’s had more good days and bad days. Honestly speaking, in the last so many years we have seen, yes of late, it’s been not the kind of performance he would want but that can happen to any of the bowlers. You can see the opposition as well, it’s not easy to bowl in the death,” Rohit added.

“I don’t see he is short on confidence. Whenever I speak to him, the confidence is there. It’s just that you can have bad games but it’s important how you come back from that and we want him to come back as quickly as possible because he’s bowled those difficult overs for us in the past, so he’s done it, it’s there in his mind and it’s not that he’s completely forgotten what he’s done as a bowler in the past and it’s just that he needs to bring that out confidently and things will happen for him,” said the 35-year-old skipper.

He also wanted more game time for ‘designated finisher’ Dinesh Karthik. “I just feel that Dinesh needs a little more game time. He hardly got to bat (this series). Just maybe three balls. So that’s not enough time. (Rishabh) Pant also needs game time obviously. But looking at how this series was it was important for me to just stick to that consistent batting lineup,” he concluded.