WI vs IND 2023: This was our last chance to try some of our players – Rahul Dravid explains decision to rest Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli

Indian head coach Rahul Dravid has revealed why Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were rested from the second ODI against the West Indies at Barbados on Saturday. In the absence of Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya led the team but the team went on to lose by six wickets.

India gave chances to Axar Patel, Sanju Samson, and Umran Malik but they could not deliver for the team. In fact, even in the first ODI against the Windies, Rohit Sharma demoted himself to number seven while the team was chasing 115 runs whereas Virat Kohli did not get to bat.

India got off to a decent start as the openers Ishan Kishan and Shubman Gill scored 90 runs in the second ODI but the middle order could not deliver the goods as they were skittled out for only 181 runs.

With the ODI World Cup looming, India wants to experiment and try out different playing combinations. Furthermore, with players like KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, and Jasprit Bumrah currently out of action, Dravid wanted to test the bench strength before the Asia Cup.

“Honestly, this was our last chance to be able to try out some of our players,” Dravid said during a post-match interaction with the media. “We have got few of our players who are injured, are in the NCA. With a month to go for the Asia Cup, we are kind of running out of time in a lot of ways. And we are hopeful that some of them will be fit for the Asia Cup and the World Cup. But we can’t take those chances, we have to try out other people and give them chances so that in worst case scenario they at least have game time behind them.”

“It gives us the opportunity to make some decisions on players. Honestly in a series like this with only 2-3 matches to go before the Asia Cup, playing Virat and Rohit would have not given us too many answers. But with the injuries we have in the NCA and some uncertainty around them, we just wanted to give others a chance if they’re required, we can play them,” he added.

The young Indian players have failed to grab their chances in the ongoing ODI series against the West Indies but with the sample size of only two matches, it is difficult to criticize them.

The third ODI of the series will be played at Trinidad on Tuesday.