Rohit Sharma has come out in support of Ravichandran Ashwin’s suggestion to start the World Cup games early in order to negate the dew factor. The 50-over showpiece event will be played in India in October-November, raising concerns over the possibility of the toss proving to be a decisive factor.
“It’s a good idea,” the Team India captain said on the eve of the first ODI against New Zealand in Hyderabad. “It’s a World Cup, so 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 I don’t know if that’s possible.
“The broadcasters will decide what time the game has to start. But ideally, you don’t want any sort of advantages... You want to see good cricket being played without one having an advantage of batting under lights with the dew. But those are the things that are not in your control. But I like the idea of an early start.”
Usually, ODIs start in India at 1.30pm but Ashwin had suggested the other day that games could start at 11.30am.
India have begun their countdown to the World Cup in style thrashing Sri Lanka 3-0. Rohit, however, believes that the series against New Zealand will prove to be a bigger challenge, especially after the Black Caps’ recent win in Pakistan.
He also believes that India can be challenged on days whenever they lose early wickets because of the lack of batting depth. The think-tank is hoping the likes Shardul Thakur and the spin-bowling all-rounders can make up for such loopholes.
“I preferably don’t want to compromise on anything because you want to play your best XI,” Rohit said. “At the end of the day, all the XI guys who are going to take the field on that particular day need to be in some sort of form, need to be doing well, at the same time not compromising on the strength of the XI members.
“And that is something that is going to be challenging for us. That No.8 or No.9, someone who can bat at that point, which is why we got Shardul (Thakur) in, because his ability with the bat can give us that edge at No.8. But moving forward, that is one aspect of our team where we can be challenged — if we lose early wickets or if we lose wickets in the middle, it is something that can worry you.
“But having said that, if you’ve got seven good batters who are expected to do the job no matter what the situation is, then you can look at your playing combinations as well... Because you are going to play all over India, different pitches. So we need to try and assess everything.
“Whether we can play three spinners... luckily for us we’ve got the spinners who are all-rounders and can bat. Washi (Washington Sundar), Axar (Patel), (Ravindra) Jadeja; Shahbaz (Ahmed) is in the squad as well. Those are the guys who can bat as well and can give us the depth that we are looking for.
“We just want to keep improving as a team and try to fine-tune all the things that we have in front of us — in terms of batting, bowling and fielding as well,” Rohit said. “New Zealand are a very good team... so it’ll be challenging for us to come out and execute what we want to execute.”
