Too soon to pass judgement whether Pant can take DRS calls: Rohit Sharma
New Delhi: The Indian team paid the price for Rishabh Pant's poor DRS calls against Bangladesh and skipper Rohit Sharma says that he doesn't want to jump to a conclusion yet whether the youngster is good enough to take tricky review decisions.
India did not review the decision when the umpire turned down an lbw appeal against Mushfiqur Rahim in the third ball of the 10th over, bowled by leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal. Rahim was on six at that time and went on to make an unbeaten 60 to lead Bangladesh to a comfortable seven-wicket win, while chasing 149 on Sunday night.
"Of course, Rishabh is young and he will need time to understand. It's too soon to judge whether he can make those decisions. Plus, the bowlers as well. It's a combination when the captain is not in the right position to make that decision," Rohit said at the post-match conference.
In the last ball of that Chahal's over, when the umpire turned down a caught behind appeal against Soumya Sarkar, Rohit reviewed the decision on Pant's insistence but lost it since there was no edge.
"When you are not in the right position (as a fielder), you have to trust your bowler and the wicketkeeper. Based on that, you have to make that decision, whichever format you play."
Rohit felt that 148 was a defendable score had they been smart on the field.
"148 was a good score. We would have defended it if we were smart on the field. A couple of decisions we did not get it right on the field and that went against us. That's where we lacked in decision making," he said.
Sent in to bat, India lost Rohit in the very first over and the skipper his early dismissal combined with a tough pitch negotiate made life tough for them.
"Whenever you lose a wicket in the first over, it's not easy to build on that. The pitch was slightly soft, so shot-making was not that easy. We wanted something around 140-150, on batting first, that was the message."
While Bangladesh batsmen negotiated the conditions better, young Indian batsmen struggled to cope.
Rohit said he was not overtly worried about that fact that his brigade failed in home conditions but lauded Bangladesh for raising crucial partnerships.
"The ball was stopping and gripping a little bit. These are young players trying to get into the squad, so they need a bit of time to understand how they need to bat on such pitches. I would not call that over-cautious approach. I think we were smart but we did not get enough runs.
"It was good fighting total but when you defend such total, you need to keep taking wickets but they had good partnerships and that was the turning point."
Needing to defend 22 runs in the last two overs, Rohit handed the ball to young left-arm paceman Khaleel Ahmed, who conceded four straight boundaries.
Asked if how difficult it was to operate without proven performers such as Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah, the captain backed his young bowlers.
"These are the guys, who did not play for a while in this format. These are bowlers we have been identified that they are the ones who can do well in this format. They have done reasonably well." He expects them to learn from their mistakes.
"They still need to understand when defending smaller targets, they need to bowl according to the plan. They will learn by playing these games. They have the talent and ability to bounce back but only time will tell if they can do that or not." He also said that, asking Khaleel to bowl the penultimate bowler was the best option he had.
"I did not want our spinners to bowl at the back-end. I kept one over for Chahal because he has bowled in that situation before. Two right-handers, I will take that chance anytime with Chahal taking the ball away from them. So that was the idea behind keeping Khaleel for the back-end."
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EAM Jaishankar meets Jamaican PM, gifts over 10 BHISHM Cubes
Kingston (PTI): External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday met Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness and discussed ways to further deepen "political, economic and people-to-people cooperation."
Jaishankar also conveyed greetings from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Holness.
"Pleased to call on Prime Minister @AndrewHolnessJM in Kingston. Conveyed the greetings of PM @narendramodi," Jaishankar posted on X.
"Discussed deepening our political, economic and people-to-people cooperation. Value his commitment towards further strengthening India-Jamaica relations," the post further read.
Also, the external affairs minister handed over 10 BHISHM (Bharat Health Initiative for Sahyog Hita & Maitri) Cubes as a gift to Jamaica.
"Formally handed over 10 BHISHM Cubes as a gift from India to Jamaica, in the presence of PM @AndrewHolnessJM, Health Minister @christufton and FM @kaminajsmith," Jaishankar posted on X.
"The BHISHM Cube mobile hospital system, designed for rapid deployment, will help Jamaica during disasters and emergencies. The gift of these cubes is a statement of friendship, a commitment to disaster preparedness, and an outcome of innovation," the post said.
Jaishankar arrived in Kingston on Saturday evening, marking the first leg of his nine-day tour of Jamaica, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago, aimed at further strengthening India's strategic and cultural ties with the Caribbean nations.
Earlier in the day, he interacted with the Indian diaspora and discussed India's ongoing transformation in infrastructure, human development and technology-driven governance and entrepreneurship with them.
He also highlighted the cricket bond between both countries as India gifted a scoreboard to Jamaica.
A scoreboard was dedicated at Sabina Park in Kingston. It is the home of the Jamaica cricket team and is the only Test cricket ground in the Caribbean island nation.
The minister expressed hope that the new scoreboard would witness many memorable innings, including those symbolising the enduring friendship between the two countries.
Cricket has long been a strong cultural bridge between India and Jamaica, which is part of the West Indies cricket team.
Jamaican players, including Chris Gayle, Courtney Walsh and Michael Holding, have played a major role in shaping the legacy of West Indies cricket in the international arena, contributing to its dominance in earlier decades and its continued global appeal.
