Latif slammed Rohit Sharma’s tactic of making Pant open the innings.
Following their participation in the Indian Premier League (IPL), which saw them play South Africa at home and tour Ireland and England, India made a number of modifications to their T20I strategy regarding the playing XI. Most of these changes were made to find the right combination for the T20 World Cup down under later this year.
One of the most talked-about changes has been to play Rishabh Pant at the top during the last two T20I games against England. Rashid Latif, the former captain of Pakistan, has criticized the strategy even though the southpaw has played just two games as an opener.
Walking in alongside India skipper Rohit Sharma, Pant scored 26 off 15 balls. Despite the fact that many veterans and experts supported this decision, Latif on the YouTube channel "Caught Behind" believes that Pant is a more dangerous batter lower in the order.
“It’s okay that you making him (Rishabh Pant) play at the top, but he is especially dangerous lower down the order. Anybody can be an opener. Nine out of ten in ICC’s top ten rankings actually open. Match hota hai neeche se (Game begins in lower middle order). Look at Shreyas Iyer, he might have scored 28, but it is far better than going to the top and scoring 30 runs,” he said.
The former cricketer also expressed his displeasure at Rohit changing the playing XI too frequently which he thinks is “destroying the team.”
“I felt India’s tactical changes were too much and they should have won 3-0 looking at the form they were going through. When you get that sort of hold in a series, you should never let it get away. That is something that is there in Australia.” he stated.
“They are destroying the team(By making too many changes), they will play someone as a substitute to Virat Kohli, or a substitute to Rohit Sharma which is not possible. You can only build the playing eleven based on these two(Rohit, Virat),” he added.
After winning the T20I series by 2-1, Sharma and his men will take on England in a 3-match ODI series starting from Tuesday (July 12).
(HT INPUTS)