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“Look, No. 4 has been an issue for us for a long time,” Rohit said at an event in Mumbai to announce the new La Liga season. “For a long period of time, Shreyas [Iyer] has actually batted at No. 4 and he has done well – his numbers are really good.
“There were so many guys who came in and went out. But injuries kept them away or they were not available or someone lost form. Shreyas and KL [Rahul] are coming off not playing anything for four months, big injuries, surgeries rather. Both had surgeries. I know, I had to undergo surgery once and how it feels afterwards, it is quite tough. We have to see how they respond, what they do.”
Twenty of Iyer’s 38 ODI innings have come at No. 4 in which he has score 805 runs at an average of 47.35, with two centuries and five half-centuries. But he has been riddled with injuries and hasn’t played any form of cricket since March this year, when a back injury flared up leading to surgery and made him miss the IPL.
“Unfortunately, injuries have given him a bit of trouble; he has been out for a while and that is honestly what has happened in the last four-five years,” Rohit said. “A lot of these guys have got injured and you will always see a new guy coming and playing there.
“The percentage of injuries that have happened in the last four-five years, it is massive. When the players get injured or are not available, you try doing different things with different players – that is what I have to say about No. 4.”
“He is really working hard, and he is talking to a lot of guys who have played a lot of ODI cricket as to what kind of attitude and mindset [to have] like that,” Rohit said of Suryakumar. “It is important to give a batter like him the cushion of extra games so that he finds that groove and gets that confidence. The way he started the IPL this year, in the first four-five games he did not have too many runs. But look what he did after that.
“For a player like him, it is our job to create such a situation and scenario: ‘It’s okay, if you don’t do well in two-three games, we are okay [with it], but when you come off, we know that you will win games straightaway’.
As things stand, a contingent of around 20 players is likely to assemble in Bengaluru for a conditioning camp at the NCA prior to departure for the Asia Cup. “We will see, we want to win but at the same time there are a lot of questions that we need answers of,” Rohit said. “But in the Asia Cup, I want to see some of the guys batting under pressure against quality teams.
“I still want to see those things, so we will wait and see what happens, but it is always nice to have a lot of names, rather than just one or two names. I hope they are fit in time – firstly that is the most important.”
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