IND vs WI: Rohit Sharma era in ODIs start with experiments

Rohit Sharma opened a bag of tricks as soon as he took over the charge as India's full-time ODI skipper. After betting on young players in the first match, the Hitman continued his experiments in the second match as well.

A fit-again KL Rahul returned to the side and to some people's surprise, he replaced Ishan Kishan in the playing XI. But Rohit didn't open with Rahul. Instead, Rishabh Pant walked out to face the new ball. The experiment though didn't work as the southpaw fell for 18. Former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar questioned during commentary that if Pant opens the batting, then who will be India's finisher?
But the move was more to do with Rahul's form as a middle-order batter.

Also read: IND vs WI: Is KL Rahul better suited to bat in the middle order in ODIs?

Rohit was also seen altering the batting order according to the situation of the match. He showed confidence in Deepak Hooda in the very first match and Hooda has looked good as a finisher in both the matches played so far. But the question is, can Deepak be moulded into a long-term finisher and become the sixth bowling option in the future? Rohit though continued to experiment and promoted Washington Sundar over Hooda.

The question now is are Sundar and Hooda fighting for the same spot and role? Moreover, Venkatesh Iyer is also in contention for the same role and will join the team for the T20 series. With the ODI World Cup next year, Rohit will have to get answers to all these questions in the matches to follow.