Rahul Dravid reveals why Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are out of the team

International cricket is back after an entertaining Indian T20 League that saw debutant Gujarat lift the trophy in their first outing. The Indian national team now face a resolute South African team in a five-match T20 series, starting on 9th June.

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Having rested senior players for the upcoming series, the new Indian side led by KL Rahul is quite young. Players like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Shami have been rested after a tiresome Indian T20 League season.

The Indian coach Rahul Dravid recently opened up on resting their senior players. The head coach said that the senior players including Rohit Sharma play all formats and hence need rest so they could be fit and fresh.

“Rohit Sharma is an all-format player, you can’t expect everyone to be fit and fresh – so there will be times when we rest our main players,” said the Great Wall of India when asked about the reason for Rohit and Virat’s exclusion from the team.

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Although the fans would miss star players, there is enough young talent to watch out for. Exciting prospects like Ruturaj Gaikwad, Deepak Hooda, Venkatesh Iyer and Ravi Bishnoi would grace the pitch after a very successful showing for their respective franchises. Most eyes, however, would be on the pace duo of Umran Malik and Arshdeep Singh, who lit up the recently concluded Indian T20 League.

Umran Malik in particular is the talk of the town for his ability to bowl in excess of 150 km/h. With his fastest delivery clocking 157 km/h, the Jammu and Kashmir born pacer has ignited a sense of speed that was always missing from the Indian cricket.

The Indian team is all set to take on South Africa in the first T20 at Arun Jaitley stadium in Delhi on 9th June.