TEAM MUST IMPROVE FIELDING IN AUSTRALIA, SAYS EX-COACH
INDIA’S current batting line-up is their best ever in cricket’s shortest format but the team must improve their fielding in Australia if they are to bring home a second T20 World Cup trophy, former coach Ravi Shastri has said.
India won the inaugural edition of the tournament in 2007 but failed to make the knockout rounds last year when Shastri, a former allrounder, was in charge of the team. Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul and Virat Kohli make up the top three of India’s batting line-up with Suryakumar Yadav, ranked second in the world in the T20 format, Hardik Pandya and either Rishabh Pant or Dinesh Karthik completing the middle order.
“I’ve been part of the system for the last seven years as coach and now watching it from outside, this is the strongest batting line-up India has had, if you look at youth, experience, at players peaking in this format of the game,” Shastri said.
“What India lacked in the last five to six years is the number four, five, six. Now Surya coming at four, Hardik at five, Pant or Karthik at six, it makes a massive difference. It allows the top order to play in the manner they are playing.
“Even if you are two down in the powerplay, you still have the ammunition at the back to consistently take on the bowlers, which wasn’t the case for some time.”
While Shastri was confident in their batting firepower he said India could not afford sloppiness in the field.
“One area India will have to pick up and start right from the beginning is fielding,” said Shastri, who coached India from mid2017 until last year’s T20 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates.
“Those 15-20 runs you save will make all the difference because otherwise every time you go out to bat, you will have to get those extra runs. This is where other sides, Australia, England, New Zealand, South Africa, they field like crazy. Sri Lanka won the Asia Cup on their fielding.”
India will go into the tournament without key bowlers Jasprit Bumrah and Deepak Chahar who are out with injuries. Shastri said authorities need to manage players’ workload during a packed schedule, with sacrifices having to be made such as the IPL.
“With the volume of cricket that exists today, it’s extremely important that you get the balance right of how much a player plays. When should he be rested? And there, a (BCCI) president can play a big role,” Shastri said.
“Tomorrow, if a cricketer, for the sake of playing for India, needs to be rested in the IPL for a certain number of games, so be it. The (BCCI) president has to sit with the franchise and explain he’s important for India first and then the franchise.”
He added: “It was the most frustrating thing for me as (India coach), when you lose key players to injuries. We toured England and New Zealand twice. On all those tours, Bhuvneshwar Kumar was injured, where he’d have got a bagful of wickets with his skills. Now, you see (Deepak) Chahar has hardly played, and he’s injured.
“Bumrah has played five matches since the last T20 World Cup and he’s injured... you’ve got to look at it seriously,... why it’s happening.”