Team India had their new chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar and captain Rohit Sharma address the press conference with regards to squad selection for the first time in almost a year. From the inclusions to the ones missing out and the injury updates of all of them, both Agarkar and Rohit answered various questions. However, one response that stole the show was by Rohit on the need of flexibility in the batting order and the batters being open to the same.
Rohit responded to a question on similar lines at the start of the presser saying that the players should be open to batting at any position. However, responding to a question later on, both Agarkar and Rohit stressed the fact that flexibility doesn't mean that the whole order is being shuffled. It just means that they can experiment with numbers 4 and 5, which they have in the recent series given they didn't have Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul due to injuries.
Speaking in the presser on the same, Rohit said, "When I said that flexibility is important, it doesn't mean we send the opener at No. 7 and let Hardik open the innings. Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma have only opened the innings for last 7 years, Virat Kohli has batted at No. 3, the new guys who come at No. 4 and 5 should be open to batting anywhere in the order.
"In the last 4-5 years, openers have opened the innings, the player batting at No. 3 has played at the same number, KL Rahul was batting at No. 5, Hardik at 6 and Jadeja at 7. So if the batters are 4 and 5 do interchange, then there's not a big problem.
"Utna toh flexibility team mein zaroori hai. Yeh nahi ki yeh opener hai, usko 8 number pe bhej do, 8 number wale ko upar kara do. Yeh pagalpanti nahi karte hum. Thoda upar neeche team mein rehna zaroori hai (That much flexibility is important for the team. It doesn't mean that the opener is batting at number 8 and the number 8 player is opening the innings. We don't do such madness but a little change here or there is key for the team balance)," he further added.
Watch the video here (from 1:20:50):
Rohit was then interrupted by a reporter who quizzed him about Axar Patel's promotion in the recent West Indies series where he batted at No. 4 in one of the games. To which he responded saying, "You need some kind of flexibility when the opposition has spinners bowling from both ends or a pacer from one end, so flexibility with regards to players who will be best to tackle that situation. Flexibility ka matlab yeh nahi ki tabahi machao (flexibility doesn't mean, you create havoc and play anyone anywhere.
