Shamik Chakrabarty in Dubai
Towards the end of India’s nets session at the Dubai International Stadium on Wednesday, Mohammed Shami and Arshdeep Singh went full-tilt. Did that drop a hint about the team’s pace attack in their Champions Trophy opener against Bangladesh on Thursday? Very likely.
India trained for about an-hour-and-a-half on the match eve. Before that, Rohit Sharma attended the pre-match press conference. Here are the three key points from the presser…
Shami’s rhythm
Shami’s rhythm has been in focus since his return to the international fold after a long injury hiatus. Rohit backed his senior fast bowler to pick up his rhythm.
“Shami, we wanted him to be back to the India fold,” said the India captain. “Same was true for Kuldeep (Yadav). For certain players, we don’t look much at the numbers. It’s important to have them back in the team.”
Going ga-ga over Gill
Shubman Gill was in sublime form in the home ODI series against England. Here, over a couple of days of nets session, he seemed to be using his bat like a magic wand. For the youngster, widely considered as the future of India’s batting, it was important to return to form after his travails in the Test series in Australia. Rohit spoke about the importance of de-hyphenating formats.
“Don’t mix formats,” he said. “Gill is a very, very classy player. His numbers are crazy. There’s a reason why he has been elevated to vice-captaincy.”
Short shrift to spin-heavy question
A question was asked about India having five spinners in their squad. Rohit gave it a short shrift. “We have two spinners (Kuldeep and Varun Chakravarthy). The other three — (Ravindra) Jadeja, Axar (Patel) and Washy (Washington Sundar) — are all-rounders. When teams have five seam-bowling all-rounders, people don’t ask questions. We have backed our strengths.” The skipper reminded that his team has “enough arsenal” if conditions become seam-friendly.