Team India's experiment to drop Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma for the second ODI backfired badly as the visitors lost by six wickets in Barbados. The management's decision to drop the senior most duo also drew ire on social media.
Moreover, the management's tinkering with the batting order did not help the cause either as apart from Ishan Kishan, none of the Indian batters troubled the scorers.
While Sanju Samson – the player making a comeback to the ODI team after January - came at number 3, Axar Patel followed him at the fourth spot. Suryakumar Yadav, who usually bats in the middle-order, was sent out to bat at no.6.
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The changes in the batting order did not help the cause as Team India were bundled out for a paltry 181 despite a 90-run partnership between Ishan Kishan (55) and Shubman Gill (34). And this tinkering did not go down well with former Team India selector Saba Karim.
Speaking on JioCinema, Karim lamented the team management's decision to drop Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli.
“The regular players also need time to face these challenges. At no.4, you are hoping that Shreyas Iyer will come, but he will also need time to get going. Who is your back-up there? Is it Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan or Sanju Samson? Because if they are, you have to design the batting order that way. Batting first was a challenge for us and it was good that we had the chance today, but it would've been ideal if we had the right batting order,” Karim said.
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"Also, why are Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli not playing? What's the point of taking them with the side if they're not playing? Why not take fresh faces then? Ideally, they should be playing because World Cup is near, you don't have much time left," said Karim further.
The final ODI of the series is slated in Tarouba on Tuesday.
