Endorsing R Ashwin’s opinion, India skipper Rohit Sharma on Tuesday (January 17) called for the ODI World Cup games at home later this year to begin earlier in the day so that the effect of dew factor can be minimized.
Over the years, dew has affected matches in the subcontinent, giving the chasing teams an unfair edge. It is such a massive factor that the captain winning the toss almost always opts to bowl first.
Earlier, Ashwin suggested that the World Cup matches should get underway at 11:30am rather than the usual start time for the day-night ODI fixtures in India i.e. 1:30pm.
"It is a good idea. It is a World Cup right. You don't want to compromise too much on the toss factor. You want to completely take that away. I like the idea of an early start but don't know if it is possible. The broadcasters will decide (laughs)," said Rohit on the eve of the first ODI against New Zealand in Hyderabad.
"Ideally you don't want to see teams getting advantage of dew. You want to see cricket being played without one having an advantage of batting under lights with dew around."
Despite slamming a double ton in his last ODI outing for India against Bangladesh last month, Ishan Kishan wasn’t considered in India’s playing XI during the recently held 50-over series against Sri Lanka at home.
In the pre-match presser, the Indian captain also confirmed that the southpaw will be accommodated in the middle-order.
"Kishan will be batting in the middle order and I am glad he could get a run here after that fine knock in Bangladesh," he said.
Mohammed Siraj, Mohammad Shami and Umran Malik were India's pace trio in the ODI series against Sri Lanka. With wrist-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal also featuring in the XI, the tail looks a lot longer.
Rohit said all-rounder Shardul Thakur has been brought back to the squad to address that issue.
"I don't want to compromise on anything honestly," he said when asked about playing seven batters and four specialist bowlers. "You want to play your best eleven at the end of the day. Number eight and nine is going to be a challenge for us, someone who can bat at that point. That is why we got Shardul in, he can give us that edge at number eight.”
"That is one aspect where we can be challenged if we lose early wickets or in the middle order. It is something that can worry you. But having said that if you have good seven batters who can do the job for us in any situation is then you can look at playing combinations as well.
"We will be playing (World Cup) all over India in different conditions. We need to assess everything. Whether we can play with three spinners. Luckily we have got spinners who can bat —Akshar, Washy (Sundar) , Shahbaz and Jaddu (Ravindra Jadeja) .
"Those are the guys that can give us depth that we are looking for but not to forget the two quality wrist spinners also that we have," he said referring to Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav.
Rohit Sharma also acknowledged that the Kiwis will pose a big challenge for his team.
"It is a great opportunity and great opposition. We can challenge ourselves to achieve what we can as a team. They are coming from a good series in Pakistan.
"At the same time, it is important not to look too much into the opposition. They keep changing but your planning and execution should not change. That has been conveyed to the team members. The last series was a perfect example and we played fearless cricket," he concluded.
(With PTI Inputs)
