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Watch: Rohit Sharma's straightforward reply to ex-England captain's query about 'lots of changes' to India captaincy
The first T20I against England was a memorable game for India's regular captain, who became the first captain to register 13 consecutive wins in the shortest format.
Change in leadership is part and parcel of the sport. But it has perhaps happened a bit too fast for India. Shikhar Dhawan is all set to lead India in three One-day internationals in West Indies later this month with Ravindra Jadeja named deputy in the squad announced on Wednesday. Dhawan, 36, has previously led the team in ODI and T20 matches in Sri Lanka last year. Also, the left-handed opener will be the eighth captain in the last 10 months, joining the likes of KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik and Jasprit Bumrah. Also Read | ‘Don’t know how India lost the game’: Sourav Ganguly reacts to 7-wicket defeat to England in Edgbaston Test
Frequent personnel changes can be challenging but Rohit Sharma justified it by underlining the hectic schedule. He hinted that the changes are a part of India's tactics in the run-up to this year's T20 World Cup. Rohit and head coach Rahul Dravid have been assigned the tricky task of finding the perfect eleven for the upcoming World T20 in Australia. India faced an early exit in the last year's T20 showpiece, with defeats to Pakistan and New Zealand derailing their campaign in the UAE.
"No. It's something we have prepared. We know the scheduling, we got to have the understanding, that players will be swapped every now and then. You can create your bench strength as well, a lot of opportunities for guys to come out and play. Exciting times, these guys have been here for a while playing in Ireland and played a couple of games here as well," said Rohit, captaining India in the Twenty20 series opener against England, said during the toss.
It was a memorable game for the regular captain, who became the first captain to register 13 consecutive wins in the shortest format. An all-round performance from Hardik Pandya helped India outwit England by 50 runs at Southampton. Hardik hit 51 runs off 33 balls, which took India's total to 198/8 in the first innings. He then went on to scalp four wickets and restrict England to 148.
After the game, Rohit lavished praise on the batters for showing 'intent'. He also singled out Hardik for his batting display. Apart from Hardik, Suryakumar Yadav and Deepak Hooda scored 39 and 33 runs, respectively.
"Great performance from ball one. All batters showed intent. Although the pitch was good, we played good shots and never got ahead of the game. You got to make use of those six overs in the powerplay," said Rohit in a post-match presentation.
"There is a certain approach we want to take in the powerplay. You got to back yourself in this game, sometimes it comes off, sometimes it doesn't. The whole batting unit needs to understand the direction the team is taking and the guys were spot on today.
"I was impressed with his (Hardik) bowling. He wants to do that a lot more in the future, bowled quick and used his variations too. Of course, his batting is there for us to see. That's the reason we wanted to bat (ball swinging under lights)," added Rohit.
Both the teams will be squaring off for the second T20I on Saturday at Birmingham.
