Ishan Kishan had slammed a double century in his last ODI appearance.
Ishan took the cricketing world by storm with his record-breaking 210 off 131 balls against Bangladesh in Chattogram last month, but Rohit made it clear that Shubman Gill will get a long run as the right-hander was ahead in the pecking order.
The Men in Blue will play six ODIs in the next two weeks against Sri Lanka and New Zealand, and Gill is likely to feature in all the games.
“Both openers have done really well. But looking at how both openers have gone through, it’s fair that we give Gill a chance to have a good run,” Rohit said in the pre-match presser.
In Gill’s favour, he was highly consistent in the 50-over format last year, scoring 638 runs from 12 innings at an average of 70.88 and a strike rate of 102.57.
“Gill has got a lot of runs in the last few games, so has Ishan. I am not going to take anything away from him (Ishan). He’s been wonderful for us, got a double hundred. And, I know what it takes to get a double hundred, it is a great achievement,” he added.
“But just to be honest and fair to the guys who have done really well before, we need to give those guys enough chances as well before we make that call,” he continued.
Calling it unfortunate, the Indian captain further said Ishan would get share of chances as they have 15 ODIs and the Asia Cup scheduled before the World Cup in October-November.
“It’s unfortunate that we won’t be able to play Ishan. But looking at how things have panned out for us in the last eight-nine months and how the ODIs have gone through for us, it’s fair to give Gill that run and he’s done extremely well in that position. But Rohit assured that Ishan remains very much in the mix.
“Yes, Ishan is certainly going to miss out but it is very unfortunate. But that does not rule out anything. We are going to try and keep everyone in the mix and see how it pans out for us as we play a lot of games ahead.”
While he didn’t take Suryakumar Yadav’s name, Rohit hinted that the former will have to sit out as Shreyas Iyer is certain to make the cut in the playing XI.
For the Indian skipper, form is important but so is the format and Shreyas was India’s highest run-getter in ODIs last year.
“Those guys who have performed will get a run. It is as simple as that. Sometimes it’s hard when we compare guys performing in different formats. I do understand the form. Form is important and so is the format,” he remarked.
Rohit said it’s important not to “mix up” the two white-ball formats.
“Look, I think it’s a great headache (choice between Surya and Shreyas) to have rather than having no headache. Honestly, we will look at the performance of the guys who have done really well. The problem happens when we start comparing different formats to different formats.
“ODI is a different format, slightly longer than T20I and we are very clear that the guys who have done well will definitely get the opportunities.
“We are very clear about giving opportunities to the guys who have done really well. That is what is going to happen as we move forward, and play these six ODIs. The guys who are doing well will also get a lot of opportunities.”
In the end, Rohit Sharma said players who have scored runs under difficult circumstances will be rewarded.
“We will have to look at who’s done well in the ODI format for us, and in what situation they have done well. They’ve been under pressure and gone on to score runs. All those things we need to count before we make that call. This is something we’re going to do before making that call — to try and capture everything that has happened in the last eight-nine months.”
(With PTI Inputs)