Rohit Sharma defends exclusion of senior players in Bangladesh tie

Indian captain Rohit Sharma defended the decision to rest several senior players including Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav and Mohammed Siraj and instead several youngsters were included in the team.

India lost to Bangladesh in their final Asia Cup 2023 Super 4 match on Friday.

Though India were already in the final of the championship, the loss to Bangladesh was painful to say the least and the decision to keep so many senior players out of the match has come under sharp criticism from different quarters.

Speaking to reporters after the match, Rohit sought to defend the decision to leave out the senior players saying that the idea was to give some game time for the cricketers and that can be important ahead of the ICC World Cup 2023.

"We wanted to give some game time to the guys, keeping the bigger picture in mind. Not compromising on how we wanted to play this game. Get in some players who are likely to play the World Cup," he said.

Rohit was all praise for the batting performances by Shubman Gill and Axar Patel.

"Axar batted brilliantly but couldn't finish. He showed a lot of character. But credit to the Bangladesh bowlers. Gill's hundred was brilliant. He backs his game, he knows exactly how he wants to play. Pretty clear on what he wants to do for the team. Look at his form over the last year. Pretty solid against the new ball. Works really hard, there's no optional practice for Gill," Rohit added while analysing the loss.

Shubman Gill's thunderous knock of 121 runs and Axar Patel's fighting 42 went in vain as Bangladesh fought back to end their Asia Cup 2023 campaign on a high by beating finalists India.