India captain Rohit Sharma is facing the heat amid the ongoing 2nd ODI against England in Cuttack. As England opted to bat at the Barabati Cricket Stadium on Sunday, Rohit made two changes with Virat Kohli and debutant Varun Chakravarthy replacing Yashasvi Jaiswal and Kuldeep Yadav. Jaiswal made his ODI debut in the series-opener in Nagpur, but was dropped after just one game. After the match, Shreyas Iyer had revealed that he was not part of the initial playing XI, and only played due to Kohli’s untimely injury.
The situation could’ve been different had Shreyas Iyer not played a match-winning knock in the first ODI. As a result, Jaiswal was sacrificed to make way for Kohli.
The decision, however, was criticised on social media, with fans suggesting that Rohit should’ve dropped himself, instead of the young opener.
Here’s how internet reacted:
Soch m Moch
iyer ne Acha kiya 1st OdI ke baad sab Bol Diya ROHIT GILL open
Virat at 3 Iyer at 4 (Ab Left Right kha Gaya) 1st Odi mein Kyu nahi Jaiswal ko 3 khilaya? 2nd Odi m Gill ka number change ho gaya, Jaiswal ke sath mzaak kiya, Iyer ne Khud Jagah ban Li hai pic.twitter.com/s8YIn7mMRR
— AB Cricinfo (@ABCricinfo16) February 9, 2025
Rohit Sharma in this series 2 runa in 7 balls.
And he kicked jaiswal out instead of himself.
Selfish captain leading from front
— No Context India (@nocontextindia0) February 9, 2025
Is it right to bench Yashasvi Jaiswal on the basis of one match or should he be given a chance considering Rohit’s form?#askthestar
— Ramkumar (@Pankaj5791) February 9, 2025
At the toss, Rohit explained the reason behind India’s changes for the second match.
“It was a good performance in the first game. That’s what I loved about. The energy was very good despite not being on the field for a while. It was superb to watch after losing two wickets. Shreyas prides himself on that intent and attitude and not to forget the contributions of Shubman and Axar as well. Black soil pitch, not sure. Maybe play on the slower side, that’s what I expect,” Rohit said at the toss.
England also made three changes from the team that lost by 4 wickets in Nagpur. Mark Wood and Gus Atkinson and all-rounder Jamie Overton return to the team, with Jacob Bethell, Brydon Carse and Jofra Archer sitting out.
Bethell suffered a hamstring injury after he made a valiant 51 in the team’s four-wicket defeat in Nagpur.
The tourists have called up Somerset batter Tom Banton as cover for the third ODI in Ahmedabad on Wednesday and he is set to arrive in India on Monday.
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