India captain Rohit Sharma gave an apt reply to a question about the management resting some senior pacers for the West Indies tour and injuries to other notable names ahead of the first Test which begins on July 12, 2023 in Dominica.
Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav and Ishant Sharma, who were the faces of the Indian pace attack for the last 5 years, are all missing from the West Indies Test series. Bumrah is still recovering from his back surgery, while Mohammad Shami has been rested.
On the other hand, Umesh Yadav was dropped after below par performance in WTC 2023 final, while Ishant Sharma is apparently no longer in BCCI selection panel’s future plans.
India are lightweight on experience as far as their fast bowlers are concerned with Siraj, Shardul Thakur, Jaydev Unadkat, Navdeep Saini and Mukesh Kumar having played a combined 32 Tests between them.
Rohit Sharma, while fielding questions from journalist, said that the situation is unavoidable as they have to rotate players to keep them fresh in light of the heavy workload and the upcoming tournaments.
“We have seen fast bowlers taking wickets here. But the fact is people will get injured, we have to rotate players unfortunately. Humare pass fast bowlers ki line nahi lagi hui hai (We don’t have a long line of pacers). We have a lot of players sitting injured. So, the bowlers who are available, we have to manage them. Hence, our experienced bowlers couldn’t be part of this tour," Rohit said in a video posted by BCCI.
Rohit is positive that the current set of pacers will be able to step up during the two-match series.
“But I’m confident of our new guys. Jaydev has been playing for 10-12 years. Mukesh Kumar has been a consistent performer in domestic cricket, has performed well for his state and zonal level. We will see what combination to play with. This challenge will be there in Indian cricket since we play a lot and obviously we have to manage players, rotate them, give them enough break so they are fresh," he said.
He further added that since 2023 was also the World Cup year, he wanted all of the bowlers, especially the pacers well rested before the marquee tournament begins on October 5.
“We have to look ahead as well. There’s World Cup and we have to keep everyone fresh. Don’t have the luxury to focus on one particular series, have to look ahead also, which player will be needed more.
In a way this is good for the team as players are getting chances, we are creating bench strength. We cannot keep on playing with the same players for years," he added.
