There were questions about whether veteran players like KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, and Rohit Sharma will play in the three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka. But with the impending Champions Trophy in mind, Gautam Gambhir’s new management made the decision to call up the players. Notably, the administration of India hopes to use the six One-Day Internationals that they have left before the event to assemble a strong team.
Prior to the series starting, team captain Rohit Sharma made it clear that while there are certain things the team wants to attempt, they do not view the series as a warm-up for the Champions Trophy. The 37-year-old stressed the value of playing cricket internationally and insisted that the game’s calibre will not be compromised.
“You know, we get these kinds of queries all the time. Is this preparation for the World Cup that is approaching? Is this an early practice for the Champions Trophy, which is approaching? You see, this isn’t a drill. The game is still played internationally. Though this is by no means practice, preparation, or anything of the sort, we will keep in mind the goals we have for the squad. It’s as simple as that: we want to come here and play excellent cricket and win the series,” Rohit stated during the media briefing prior to the game.
Naturally, we want to give it our all, but when you’re playing for your country, the standard of cricket should stay the same as it has been for the past several years. That is more significant than considering it only a prelude and deciding to head out and relax in Colombo. That is not how we think.
The goal of playing a game or a series is to gain some sort of reward. To a bowler, we would say, “We want something different from you.” “This is how we want you to play in the middle overs,” we may instruct a hitter. We want to gain something from the series, but not at the expense of delving into the world aimlessly. The calibre of Indian cricket is more significant to me,” he continued.
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As things stand, there won’t be any shocks in terms of the makeup of the team. Between KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant, there are uncertainties, thus the team management will probably make a decision on matchday. In terms of the bowling unit, Arshdeep Singh is probably going to partner with Mohammed Siraj and Khaleel Ahmed, therefore Harshit Rana could have to wait for his chance.
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