India’s lack of batting depth was one of the main factors in their disgraceful loss to West Indies during the T20I series. India entered the recently finished game with four No. 11s in each of their five matches due to their decision to have a more varied bowling attack.
However, the approach failed, earning them their first bilateral series loss to West Indies since 2006. While the timing of the loss worried head coach Rahul Dravid with the Asia Cup and World Cup coming up, Ravichandran Ashwin provided a significant conclusion on the matter.
Hardik Pandya along with Ravindra Jadeja are India’s all-rounders, and Shubman Gill, Rohit Sharma, and Virat Kohli make up the top order. If Shreyas Iyer as well as KL Rahul can recover in time for the Asia Cup, India will still have its top 7 players.
Nevertheless, it is actually the tailender batting that worries India the most at this point in time. In the ODI series, India played with Shardul Thakur at No. 8, but due to a lack of choices, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravi Bishnoi, and Arshdeep Singh filled the position in the T20Is.
You should have the ability to close down such games as well: Ravichandran Ashwin
When speaking about the topic on his YouTube channel this past week, Ashwin supported Thakur as India’s No. 8 World Cup option but acknowledged that if India chooses both Kuldeep as well as Yuzvendra Chahal, the issue will continue.
The Rajasthan Royals spinner said, “You don’t want your tail to start so early, and that’s why you need someone like Shardul Thakur to come and smash a few balls coming in at No. 8. But you should play your best batters and bowlers to win a match. At the same time, if you needed 36 to win from 30 balls when you are six down, you should have the ability to close down such games as well. So, that is the conundrum that India will go into ahead of the World Cup. If they play Kuldeep and Chahal together, then it gets to a situation where Kuldeep has to bat at No. 8.”
