Team India skipper Rohit Sharma will lead India for the first time as permanent ODI captain since replacing Virat Kohli in December. Rohit picked up a hamstring injury just a couple of days before India's tour of South Africa, but he's fit and raring to go against the West Indies.
The Caribbean side will be touring the subcontinent to play a three-match ODI series and a T20I series of as many games between February 6-20.
On Saturday, Rohit faced the press ahead of the opening match of the series in Ahmedabad's Narendra Modi Stadium and the Nagpur born batsman gave a rather cheeky response to one of the journalist's questions.
With Shikhar Dhawan testing positive for Covid-19, Rohit was quizzed whether younger players like Ishan Kishan or Ruturaj Gaikwad would get more chances to open, to which Rohit had a rather unusual response.
He said, "You are saying I and Shikhar should sit on the bench and give Ruturaj and Ishan chances at the top? The top 3 batters in Indian ODI team have done very well. Young batters will get opportunities. Ishan is getting one. There are a lot of matches. The ones who do well will get opportunities. Dhawan did well in SA but is now affected by Covid. Ishan is getting the opportunity now."
Both Shikhar Dhawan and Ruturaj Gaikwad had earlier tested positive for Covid, therefore Rohit confirmed that Ishan Kishan will partner him in opening the innings against West Indies. Moreover, while KL Rahul is unavailable for the first ODI due to some personal issues while Mayank Agarwal is still under quarantine.
Furthermore, Shreyas Iyer and Navdeep Soni are also under quarantine, while Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami have been rested against the West Indies.
