Former India skipper Sourav Ganguly feels it is time that Rohit Sharma as an opener fired for the side. He also added that Ajinkya Rahane, who had been successful as an opener for the shortest format of the game, while playing for Rajasthan Royals, has greater chances of partnering Shikhar Dhawan at the top.
In his column for Hindustan Times, Ganguly wrote, “In batting, [MS] Dhoni will have to decide between Rohit and Rahane to partner Shikhar followed by Virat [Kohli], Yuvraj [Singh], [Suresh] Raina, Dhoni, [Ravindra] Jadeja and the rest. It’s time for Rohit to stand up and deliver as Rahane has thrived as opener in this format with Rajasthan Royals and it will be difficult to keep him on the bench for long.”
Ganguly added that while Amit Mishra and Ravichandran Ashwin have delivered, Ravindra Jadeja finds himself in a tough situation.
“The loss in the first warm-up game will hopefully be a wake-up call for India. It has thrown up a few questions. Amit Mishra once again bowled impressively, Ashwin delivered as the captain wanted him to, and Jadeja is one person whom you will not be able to keep aside in this format.”
“So, India will be tempted to go in with three spinners but the advantage of playing three tweakers could be negated by the dew factor. India play all their matches at 7pm under lights and thus will have to counter dew. The toss in this case will not come in to play. Generally, with the dew on, teams with better fast bowlers hold advantage as the ball skids off the pitch. Bhuvneshwar [Kumar] will have to get better. Can Dhoni finish his 4 overs with the new ball as he has done in Indian conditions in the past?”, Ganguly concluded.
Sourav Ganguly tips Ajinkya Rahane to replace Rohit Sharma as opener in T20 - Latest Cricket News, Articles & Videos at CricketCountry.com