Kuldeep Yadav is a Much More Matured Bowler Now, But Axar Patel Gives Us Batting Depth: Rohit Sharma

Rohit Sharma could not have put to rest the questions around the pitch ahead of the India vs England series opener in Hyderabad on Thursday any better.

Spinning track or not, what it will boil down to is how England’s ultra-aggressive approach holds against India’s top-quality spinners. It was not long ago that Rohit Sharma was sitting in a press conference room after taking a 2-0 lead over Australia and then Indore happened. Rohit knows nothing is guaranteed, and that probably was the reason for Rohit’s two-word answer on the pitch.

But, unlike Australia, England has a plan to start with Bazball. Also, England was the last team to beat India in India a decade ago in 2012 when Graeme Swann and Monty Pansesar had out-bowled the Indian tweakers, and Rohit knows it will not be wise to think too ahead of himself.

“There is a possibility that you can lose as well because that’s what happens in any sport. You win, you lose. But by no means whatever record we have in the past decade or so gives us the guarantee that we’re going to come out here on top as well and win the series,” Rohit would go on to say during the pre-match press conference.

“We want to think that if we don’t step up or if we don’t show up, well, we are going to find ourselves in trouble. So we don’t want to be doing that,” he added later.

India are heading into the series, their first five-match series in India in a long while and playing consistent cricket for nearly two months is the challenge the skipper is looking forward to.

“In India certainly it’s for the first time we will be playing five Test matches, which is pretty good. We always wanted to play four or five Test matches.,” said Rohit, adding,” Now that it’s there for us, it’s a challenge to play good cricket, consistent cricket over two months which will be challenging and everyone’s looking forward to that.

One of the concerns for the skipper is the unavailability of Virat Kohli for the first two Tests and with the Indian middle-order not at their best even in home conditions there were talks of maybe bringing back one of the senior players in the fold, but Rohit was clear that this is an opportunity to give put faith in the youngsters.

“We did actually think about it [bringing back a senior player], but all these younger players, when are they going to get their opportunity [then]? That’s something that we thought as well. Leaving out an experienced player or not considering them is very hard because of the amount of runs they’ve scored, the kind of experience they’ve had, and the amount of games that they have won. For us, it’s very hard to ignore all of that, but you sometimes got to bring certain players into your setup as well, and you got to give them your favourable conditions,” said Rohit hinting why a Cheteshwar Pujara was not picked as Kohlis’ replacement for the first two Tests.

Another selection conundrum that India has been facing for a while is actually a happy headache. With Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin being must-picks, that leaves one spot with two very viable options – Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav.

And Axar edges out here owing to his all-around abilities, a fact Rohit also conceded despite admitting that Kuldeep Yadav brings in the X-factor and is a far more mature bowler than he was a couple of years ago.

“Kuldeep gives you a certain x-factor with his bowling. Like, you’ve seen how well he’s been bowling off late, especially the wicket, if it has bounce or if it doesn’t have bounce. Kuldeep still becomes quite a factor in those types of conditions as well because he’s got superb variations alongside him and is a very mature bowler now, from what he was a few years back, he’s not played a lot of Test cricket in India because of Ashwin and Jadeja. But that is what happens.

“But at the same time, Axar, with his all-round ability, giving us that batting depth, the consistency that he’s shown playing in these conditions in Test cricket also is an important factor for us. I’m not going to say who it is, but it was a challenge for us to make that decision, who it was. But yeah, we know we’ve got quality around our spin bowling department, which is a good sign when you have quality around your team. When there’s a headache to make your playing eleven, that’s a good sign,” added Rohit.