The ODI and T20I series against Sri Lanka were quite important for the Indian team as they were the first assignments of new head coach Gautam Gambhir. The new head coach’s first-team selection for the T20I series saw several new faces, but the ODI squad saw both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli returning to the team under Gambhir’s orders. Former Indian pacer Ashish Nehra was asked whether including both Rohit and Kohli in the ODI squad was the right call and he believes that it wasn’t.
“The next series India play is 2-3 months later, a rare thing for us. So for players like Rohit and Kohli…I feel there was a better chance of giving opportunities to other players during this series. I know Gambhir is a new coach, and he wants to spend some time with the experienced players, but it isn’t like he doesn’t know the two of them. He is not a foreign coach who wants to get his equation right with Kohli and Rohit,” Nehra said.
“So it was a good opportunity for him to try out the new players, and Rohit and Kohli could play when the home season begins. I’m not saying it is a wrong approach, but it could have been one of the strategies in this series,” he added.
