“I know it is difficult for people outside to understand why a player who bats at number six is batting at number four, but the message has been sent. This is an international game, not club cricket, What are you talking about? It’s not like we go to sleep giving a position to a certain player and then change it the next morning.
“We say, ‘This is what we want’. You don’t want to be handicapped or stuck with one player batting in one position. Having said that, you want to get the best from players in certain positions All seven-eight numbers are open to anyone, this is the message we have been sending for so many years.”
“Where things are important is the option to bat at No. 8 and 9,” Rohit said. “Akshar, you know he has done well this year, batted well in white-ball cricket. He hasn’t got many chances in the red ball, but played well in the white ball, especially in the IPL. He had a few chances against the West Indies. But he couldn’t perform big, but by having him there, we get the option of having a left-handed batsman who can move up the order and play the spinners if required, and also create depth in the batting. Can do.”
“Rohit did not say that anyone can play anywhere,” Agarkar said. “He said that a player should be flexible in the mind. A player knows his role, where he is going to play. , which overs he will bowl. A new-ball bowler will bowl with the new ball, or whether he can bowl the middle overs – those roles are determined. But as the game or tournament develops, you Regardless of someone’s form or the form of the team you are playing against, players need to be flexible in the mind.
“Every captain has a plan that this batsman will bat here, and we will play in this specific way, but as the tournament progresses, if someone’s form is good, someone is playing well or the match-up gives someone a Instructed to play against certain bowlers, we are talking about that kind of flexibility, which is important. There is so much talent in the team. If the talent is there then flexibility will come. It does not mean that the role is not specified. “The roles are specified, you feel comfortable because that.”
“It’s not like batting at eight and opening eight like in the opener, we don’t do crazy things like that. There needs to be some flexibility up and down in a team.”
Rohit Sharma
At this point, Rohit stepped in to clarify his comments on flexibility and explained why it should not be taken literally.
Rohit said, “When I said flexibility is important, it does not mean that I will send the opener at number seven or make Hardik Pandya open the batting.” “Shikhar (Dhawan) and Rohit have only opened in the last seven-eight years, Kohli has only batted at three. For the young players who come in at four-five, it is important to be flexible, bat up and down .
“In the last four-five years if you see, the opener has opened, No. 3 has batted at three, KL (Rahul) has batted at five, Hardik has batted at six, (Ravindra) Jadeja has batted at seven. And five, sometimes if they go up and down, there is no problem. So flexibility is important. Our position also when we came in, we batted up and down, I am talking about that flexibility. It Like the opener, we don’t bat on the eighth and eighth open, we don’t. Don’t do such crazy things. A team needs some flexibility up and down.”