“When are they going to get their opportunity?” - Rohit Sharma on newcomer replacing Virat Kohli ahead of experienced player

Team India captain Rohit Sharma has admitted that they thought about going back to an experienced player to replace Virat Kohli in the squad for the first two Tests against England. He, however, added that they refrained from going on that path since it’s important to look ahead as well.

Kohli was initially named in the Indian squad for the first two Test matches against England. He, however, subsequently pulled out citing personal reasons. Madhya Pradesh batter Rajat Patidar has been named as Kohli’s replacement in the Indian team for the first two Tests.

At a press conference ahead of the opening Test against England in Hyderabad, Rohit was asked to shed light on the logic behind picking Patidar ahead of someone like Cheteshwar Pujara or Ajinkya Rahane.

“Yeah, I mean, look, you could have thought that [going back to a senior player] we did actually think about it, but all these younger players, when are they going to get their opportunity? That’s something that we thought as well,” Rohit admitted.

“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, 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 favorable conditions,” he added.

The 36-year-old explained that it’s better for inexperienced players to get a taste of red ball cricket at the international level at home, instead of directly exposing them in overseas conditions.

“You don’t want to expose them or bring them on foreign tours where they’ve not played before. So I think that’s the thought behind all of that. It’s important that we try and get some of these youngsters in whenever there is an opportunity,” Rohit commented.

30-year-old Patidar has played 55 first-class games, scoring 4,000 runs at an average of 45.97, with 12 hundreds and 22 fifties.

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“By no means, the doors are closed for anyone” - Rohit

While backing the decision to pick an inexperienced batter ahead of a senior cricketer as Kohli’s replacement, Rohit asserted that the doors are not closed on anyone who is currently out of favor. He, however, maintained that new players also need to come into the setup.

“By no means, the doors are closed for anyone, you know, as long as they stay fit and keep scoring runs. Anyone will be welcomed back into the setup. Having said that, I think it’s important to look at some of the other players as well," Rohit said.

"We don’t want to end up in a place where we’ve got you know, out of 11 guys seven or eight guys who have barely played 25 Test matches between them. So, it’s important that whenever you have the opportunity, give them some game time,” the Indian captain concluded.

Pujara and Rahane have played 103 and 85 Tests respectively, but were not picked for the first two England Tests after a poor run of scores in their preceding outings.