'We Wanted to do Something Different': Rohit Sharma Reveals Discussions With Rahul Dravid Ahead Afghanistan Series

It was a dogfight near the end, but the Indian team fired on all cylinders as they completed a whitewash of the Afghanistan side, winning the T20I series 3-0.

A lot of questions were floated at the beginning of the series: doubts regarding the reintroduction of skipper Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, questions regarding the youngsters being chosen for the series, and more concerning the long-term plan that the Indian side had in mind with the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup nearing.

Through it all, Rohit Sharma led from the front and came to the side’s rescue by piling a magnificent century to claim the series in dominant fashion.

In an exclusive interview with JioCinema, Rohit Sharma shared how he sat together with head coach Rahul Dravid to plan their course of action for the series, especially with Rohit coming back into the side after almost 14 months of not playing T20Is for India.

“We had a lot of discussions before the series. I had not played for one year, so I discussed ideas with Rahul bhai (Dravid). Although I was watching the games, I was not playing. I got an understanding of a few things, so we wanted to implement them and also do something different,” said skipper Rohit Sharma.

One of the major discussions that Rohit had with Dravid was regarding the utilisation of their bowlers. With the likes of relatively newer names such as Mukesh Sharma, Avesh Khan and Ravi Bishnoi being included into the side for the series, they felt that it was important to analyze and understand how to bring the best of their bowlers, yet at the same time also help them grow by making them take on challenges.

“We wanted our bowlers to bowl in a different way. Someone wasn’t comfortable bowling in the power play, so we had to use them there. Some were not comfortable bowling at the death, we asked them to bowl there, ” Rohit said.

It seems to have worked out just fine for the Indian side as they rose to the occasion once again, especially as Bishnoi scalped two Afghan wickets to wrap up the game and the series in stunning fashion for the home side.