IND vs SA: Rahul Dravid's counterattack on the question of former cricketers, the head coach told why Rohit Sharma was given a break

Players like captain Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli will be seen not playing in the five-match T20 series against South Africa starting on Thursday. The selectors have rested the senior players for this series. Many former cricketers had raised questions about this. However, now the head coach of the team, Rahul Dravid has defended this decision of the selectors. In a press conference on the eve of the first T20 International, head coach Dravid explained why India has decided to rest captain Rohit. Apart from Rohit, senior bowlers like Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah have also been rested from this series.

Dravid said, 'Rohit is our player playing all formats. It would be wrong to expect everyone to be available all the time. We want to see him fit and fresh. The time will come when we will rest our big players.

In the absence of Rohit, KL Rahul has been made the captain of the Indian team. Dravid said that the eyes of the Indian team are on a better start in the T20 International series. "We are looking at a good start," he said. We know our top-3. If there is a high-scoring match, we would like him to maintain his strike rate throughout. But there could be some interesting matches as well. We have the quality in the top 3, who can score runs.

Earlier, former India pacer RP Singh had said that there was no need for Rohit to take a break from the five-match T20I series against South Africa. Rohit hasn't had the best of times lately, as Mumbai Indians (MI) failed to qualify for the Indian Premier League (IPL) playoffs for the second consecutive season.

Cricketer-turned-commentator RP Singh while talking to India TV said, 'I think he should have played this series. To rest or not to rest is their personal opinion. It depends on how tired he is feeling, but I don't think he needed a break. He should have played. It is a long series and remembers that he is also the captain.