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India’s 160-run victory over the Netherlands in the
ODI World Cup extended their unbeaten run to 9-0. Virat Kohli claimed his first
ODI wicket since 2014, and Rohit Sharma claimed his first since 2012. India
entered the game with five front-line options, but with the semi-finals quickly
approaching, Rohit was willing to try new things. As a result, part-timers like
Suryakumar Yadav and Shubman Gill bowled nearly eight overs, giving Jasprit
Bumrah an opportunity to perfect his wide yorkers towards the end.
“It is something always in our mind when you have
five bowlers” Rohit said at the presentation, “You want to create
[those] options within the team and I think we have that option now. Today, we
had nine options. It’s important. This was the game where we could have tried
certain things. The seamers going out there and bowling [those] wide yorkers
when it was not needed. But we wanted to do that, as a team, as a bowling unit
we wanted to try and do something different and see what we can achieve.”
Hardik Pandya and Shardul Thakur were India’s fifth
and sixth bowling options going into the competition, respectively, but Pandya
was unable to play due to an ankle injury. In response to the loss, India
reorganised their lineup, starting five front-line bowlers and six specialised
hitters rather than R Ashwin or Thakur. India has demonstrated their bench
strength in front of the knockout stages, with part-timers collecting wickets
and the middle order putting on a show at the bat.
“We always built the squad keeping in mind that
we need six bowling options and kind of build the depth of the squad.”
Rahul Dravid, India’s coach, told Star Sports. “Obviously, Hardik was an
important part of that puzzle in the sense that he gave you that balance. But
once we lost him, I just think the way the guys have responded – yes, we have
only five bowling options – but each and every one of them is performing really
well and bowling really well, and I think that gives Rohit a lot of confidence
as well. He [Kohli] did take a wicket as well, after nine years, so could give
him some credit.”