Rohit Sharma has always excelled at giving youngsters a chance in challenging situations. Be it IPL or international cricket, Rohit never turns away from playing attacking cricket.

On Monday with India’s fortunes on the line in the second T20I in St Kitts, the captain turned to Avesh Khan with West Indies needing 10 off the last over. It didn’t pay off in the end but Rohit wasn’t too perturbed by the result and believed Avesh would learn from the experience.

“It’s all about giving the opportunity to these guys,” Rohit said on Monday. “We know what Bhuvneshwar Kumar brings to the table for us. He’s been doing it for so many years, but if you don’t give opportunity to guys like Avesh, Arshdeep (Singh) and all those guys, you will never find out what it is like to bowl in the death overs for India.

“They’ve been doing it well for the IPL franchises, but this is a different ball game. These are the games (where) you try and see how they respond to those (pressure) situations, but yeah it’s just one game.

“I don’t think we need to… or those guys need to panic about stuff. They have the skills, they have the talent; it’s just about backing it and giving them the right opportunity,” he said.

Left-arm pacer Arshdeep played a key role conceding just ten runs off the 17th and 19th overs. India lost the match by five wickets but his contribution stood out. Rohit was particularly impressed with India’s late rally with the ball.

“That is something I’m really proud of the team (for)… When you are defending a target (139) like that, it can get over in either 13-14 overs or you drag it till the last ball. I think that’s what we did… We dragged it till the last over. The guys kept fighting.”

The Telegraph