Rohit Sharma praises Siraj's improvement, confirms Ishan Kishan's ODI role

Hyderabad, Jan 18 (IANS) Team India skipper Rohit Sharma has lavished praise on seamer Mohammed Siraj, and confirmed that young batter Ishan Kishan will feature in the upcoming New Zealand ODI series, starting here on Wednesday.

"In terms of Ishan, yeah, he will be batting middle order. I'm glad he could get a run here after that fine knock in Bangladesh," Rohit said in the pre-game press conference before the first ODI against New Zealand.

Kishan scored a double century opening the batting in his last ODI against Bangladesh, but had to sit out the more recent ODI series against Sri Lanka.

Rohit also heaped praise on Mohammed Siraj, saying: "Over the last couple of years, we've seen how well Siraj has fared across all three formats. He has improved his bowling; his line and length have improved. He has especially worked on his outswing. Earlier, he wasn't that renowned for swing, but he has shown his ability to swing with the new ball over the last series.

"It isn't an easy task for any batsman to face the new ball. Siraj has started understanding his bowling and what the team wants from him. Overall he has become a very good bowler for the team, one who can take wickets with the new ball and in the middle overs. He has also improved his death bowling with the IPL".

India squad: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Ishan Kishan (wk), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, KS Bharat (wk), Hardik Pandya (vice-captain), Rajat Patidar, Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Shardul Thakur, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Umran Malik.