India have lot of options, need to back youngsters: Rohit

There is no dearth of options to have a settled middle order going into the World T20 next year reckons stand-in skipper Rohit Sharma, who advocated the need to shift from chop-and-change policy to provide the youngsters a sense of security.Whenever India’s top-order fires, the team stays in a good space but a weak middle and lower order has been exposed a number of times when that does not happen.Asked if the team has zeroed in on, on this aspect, ahead of the World T20 in Australia, Rohit said, “We have lot of options.””They need to get more games under their belt to be more confident and getting the job done. The team, a few years ago, was very much settled so there was not much room for a younger player to come and grab that opportunity,” Rohit said ahead of first Twenty20 against Bangladesh.”There has always been a chop and change between that number 4,5,6 and 7 as well. So now this is the best time for us to try these guys. Shreyas Iyer, Shivam Dube, Manish Pandey then Rishabh as well. There are a lot of guys who can do the job.”However, he acknowledged that the road is tough for the youngsters, trying to find a place in this formidable Indian set up.”When they play for their IPL team it’s different but when they come here, it is different ball game. They bat higher for their IPL franchise and that is the challenge in international cricket, you will not get, what you want.”You have to earn that position and make sure whatever little opportunities you get, you have to make the most of it. In IPL they are guaranteed 15 games but not in international cricket.”Further explaining India’s preparations
for the World T20 next year, Rohit said the team needs to better its performance while batting first.”We have looked at certain number and stats. Our numbers are very good when we chase whether it’s in India or outside. Something we really want to focus is on posting targets and defending them.”That is where we are lacking, which is why you saw the last T20 we played in Bengaluru, where the pitch was a bit sticky but we still opted to bat. We wanted to try and challenge ourselves as to how we can take that challenge of posting scores on difficult wickets against difficult attacks.
“We want all our bases covered before we go for the World Cup in Australia. This is the perfect time to do that but at the same time we want to win games. It’s not just about trying. First priority is to win games and then focus on others.”
Rohit’s philosophy is built on the belief that a captain should not consider himself the most important person in the team as he aims to follow the leadership template set by regular skipper Virat Kohli.