Focus on the color blue right now: Rohit Sharma

Rohit Sharma opened up about India’s current objective as they take on the mighty Caribbean force in less than a day’s time. The Indian captain made his points clear about what exactly is to unfold in the forthcoming series.

Talking about experimentation, he said, “I feel the word experimentation is overrated, in my terms. We are trying to find those holes that are there in the squad and try and fill that gap. So whatever it takes, we will try and do that.”

“All these guys [the fringe players] are very young and haven't played a lot of cricket. We need to give them the assurity and the gametime. Once we have that, then we can try out things. Till then, whatever little holes we have in our squad, we have to try and fill that," he added.

He also shed some light about India’s upcoming priorities as the World Cup approaches. He said, “The idea is to identify the players who are going to play the World Cup and give them the game time. There are a lot of players who are injured and not with the team. Come the World Cup, I don't know who's going to be fit and who's not going to be fit, but we've just got to get the back-ups ready. We have a packed schedule and injuries will happen. It's important we give players enough game time keeping everything in mind."

With Washington Sundar out of the line-up, Kuldeep Yadav was added to the Indian ranks to fill up the massive boots of the former, after his grand success in the ODI series, both with the bat and the ball.

Rohit quoted, “These two guys have been a great asset in the past for us and will continue to be. Things should start falling in place for them and it starts with us giving them the confidence. Giving them the support and the backing from the team.”

He further added, “These guys are wicket-taking options. The captain will expect them to flight the ball and take wickets. It's for them now to get back into the rhythm. Chahal has gotten into his rhythm. Kuldeep will need some time because he was injured. The rhythm of a wrist spinner takes some time to come. I am sure he'll start working out about his own bowling very soon."

Hardik Pandya has been still in his recuperating phase and his dropping from the Ranji Trophy signals the fact that he is eyeing a comeback in white ball cricket.

Talking about experiments with the available players in the lineup, Rohit quoted, “There is no consideration of IPL here. IPL is played for two months, and we play for India for the next ten months. What matters is where they are going to bat for India. What we need here from these guys is very important. We are focusing on that. IPL happens for two months, and we will take care of that later.”

He continued, “At the moment, we just need to get whatever things we need to sort out, we need to get that right. We need to do that, and this is the time for us to do that. We've spoken to guys about what roles they will need to do during the World Cup. That mindset needs to be to bat or bowl in that fashion. The clarity has been given to them."

Rohit Sharma concluded by saying, “The IPL auction is done and dusted. Focus on the color blue right now." 

India will be squaring off with West Indies for the opening T20I which is slated to start at 7:30 PM on Wednesday.