Will continue to back young players: Rohit

India captain Rohit Sharma said he will continue to back young bowlers and give them opportunities to showcase their skills at crunch moments of a game. Rohit’s comments came in the backdrop of his decision to bring in Avesh Khan (1/31 from 2.2 overs) to bowl the last over of the low-scoring second T20I instead of the more experienced Bhuvneswar Kumar (0/12 from 2 overs).

Rohit said he wanted to test India’s bowling depth with an eye on the upcoming T20 World Cup in Australia later this year.

”It’s all about giving opportunity. We know Bhuvneshwar, what he brings to the table, but if you don’t give the opportunity to Avesh or Arshdeep you will never find out what it means to bowl at the death for India,” Rohit said after the match.

”They have done it in the IPL. Just one game, those guys don’t need to panic. They need backing and opportunity,” he added. While Rohit feels that the Indian batters did not apply themselves on a batting-friendly surface in the five-wicket defeat against West Indies in the second T20, he is hopeful of a quick turnaround. ”It was not enough runs on the board for us. We didn’t bat well. Pitch was playing quite nicely but we didn’t apply ourselves. But that can happen,” he said.

”I have said again and again that when you are trying something as a batting group, it won’t work out always. We will try to see our mistakes and look to correct them,” Rohit added. Obed McCoy wreaked havoc with the ball with brilliant figures of 6 for 17 as India managed just 138 runs. Rohit lauded the fighting spirit of his side, especially the bowlers, who dragged the game to the last over.

”Proud of the team. When you are defending a target like that, it can end in 13-14 overs or you try to drag it to the last over. Guys kept fighting, it was important to take wickets. The planning we did, the guys came and executed,” he said.

”Happy with bowlers, but there are certain things in the batting we need to look at. I will, again and again, say that we will continue to bat in this fashion because we want to achieve something. The one-off result, shouldn’t panic. After one loss we won’t change things around,” he added. India will take on the West Indies in the delayed third T20I at the same venue on Tuesday.

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