Virat Kohli’s absence will provide an opportunity for someone else to deliver: Dean Jones

India have remained unbeaten in all the series they have played since crashing out of the World Cup in July and are all set to play in their next series starting Sunday. The Men in Blue will take on Bangladesh in the first match of the three-game T20I series in Delhi and instead of Virat Kohli who has been rested, the hosts will be led by ace opener Rohit Sharma who was a fabulous track record both as a batsman and captain the T20Is.

India have tried a number of players in the recent times in a bid to build their team for the future and especially the T20 World Cup and former Australia batsman Dean Jones believes that the absence of Kohli will open an opportunity for a youngster to deliver. Jones said while it is true that India are weaker minus Kohli but it also given an opportunity to the team management to try different combinations with an eye on the next T20 World Cup in Australia.

Dean Jones has his say on Virat Kohli’s absence

“Look there is no doubt that in the absence of Virat Kohli, any Indian team is going to be a little bit weaker. That is a fact that he is the best player in the world. But this provides an opportunity for someone else to stand up. If we go into scenarios, what would happen if Virat broke his hand or something happened and he couldn’t play in a World Cup match? Who is going to take over? There was this match played between Rajasthan and RCB and it was reduced to six overs and the teams had no idea what the attitude should have been to go about it.”

“So, Rohit takes over, he has won three IPLs and knows how to captain the team. We have to see if KL (Rahul) is going to bat at number three, will it be Pant (Rishabh) at number four? I think I firmly believe that whatever decisions the selectors take, they must be consistent for the next two or three T20I series. Keep players in the same spot and make them understand their roles. The trick is to pick the right player in the first place,” Jones, a cricket commentator and analyst now, said as quoted by India Today.

Rohit has led India in the absence of Kohli on quite a few occasions in the past and also succeeded in winning titles — the most memorable being the Asia Cup in the UAE last year.