Vikram Rathour: Rohit Sharma himself wanted Ishan Kishan to open against NZ

Everybody cricket lover was somewhat in shock after Ishan Kishan opened with KL Rahul against New Zealand last weekend. The newcomer in the Indian cricket squad, Ishan Kishan replaced the long-time and experienced opener, Rohit Sharma, in the T20 World Cup match and came to open. The batting coach, Vikram Rathour cleared out the confusion on this sudden change. He said that Rohit was one of the deciders to collectively decide that Ishan Kishan will open against New Zealand.

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The Indian cricket team is probably having their nightmare in the journey of the T20 World Cup. They faced a humiliating 10-wicket loss against Pakistan in the opening match and then an 8-wicket loss against New Zealand last Sunday. The team is on the verge of group stage exit and their selection in the semifinals is almost uncertain.

The batting coach of the Indian team said that the reason behind Ishan Kishan's elevation in the line-up. The reason was for having a left-hander at the top-order instead of having similar batters in the middle-order.

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Vikram Rathour said on the eve of the Afghanistan match:

Vikram Rathour said, "How things went was Surya was having some back spasm the previous night and was not fit enough to take the field. The person coming in was of course Ishan and we know Ishan had done well as an opener as he has done well in the past."

He further added, "As far as who took that call, it's the whole management that sits and takes that call and, of course, Rohit himself is a part of that management. He was part of that discussion. It tactically made sense to have a left-hander upfront. We didn't want too many lefties in the lower middle-order with Ishan, Pant, Jadeja. So technically, it made sense and that guy has batted well."