“Rahane and Pujara are big shoes to fill…”: Rohit Sharma

India will look for a whitewash when they fare against the Sri Lankan side in a two-match red-ball series starting Friday 4th March in Mohali. After a poor display in their tour of South Africa, that saw the former skipper Virat Kohli drop his captaincy. The former world’s number one side will be led by a new skipper in Rohit Sharma.

Talking to the press on Thursday, Rohit talked about the decision to drop veteran Cheteshwar Pujara and former vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane from the squad, and the upcoming future of the team.

“Look Rahane and Pujara are big shoes to fill, it will never be easy for whoever comes in, and honestly I do not know who can fill in the slots. Look, the two have done a lot for the team, you cannot describe that in words, all these years of hard work and playing 80-90 odd tests, and all those overseas test wins, these two have played a great role in our success!”

When talked about a potential replacement for the absent players as well as his regular opening partner KL Rahul, the Indian skipper did not have any fixed names in mind but he added on, 

“I am the captain, and I’ll prefer everyone in the team. We will see and analyze everything and then we will take a call. Mayank, Shubman, Shreyas, and Vihari all are brilliant and they are the future of Indian cricket. I think all of these guys need a solid run for them to excel in this format and it is important for us to provide them with that,”

It will be very interesting to see how the hosts line up as they lock horns against Sri Lanka, the team are bound to miss the services of Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane who have bailed the team out of deadlock situations on numerous occasions. But with the change in time, the team will have to look on for reliable players to fill in the void.