Former Indian head coach Ravi Shastri talked about the lack of top and middle-order batters who can contribute with the ball in the current Indian team.
It’s fair to say the line-up of the 2000s and early 2010s had all the departments covered, which was one of the main reasons they were able to win ICC titles. Apart from the strong batting and bowling line-ups, the Indian team featured top-order batters with the ability to bowl.
The likes of Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina used to chip in and contribute with the ball as well apart from their batting.
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In the current Indian team, apart from the likes of Hardik Pandya, Akshar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja, there are not many who can contribute with the ball. In the top-6, no one can chip in and bowl crucial 5-6 overs for the side.
Recently, Deepak Hooda, who is a top-order batter, has been bowling a few overs for India in the middle order, which has given extra option to the skipper. In the ODI series against West Indies, the right-hander has contributed with the ball as well and if groomed well he can be a valuable asset.
Speaking in an interaction on Fan Code, Ravi Shastri said that earlier India used to have batters in Sehwag, Sachin Yuvraj and Raina, who used to provide the team with the crucial overs but in the past few years, India has been lacking such players.
He expressed his happiness and said that it was good to see Akshar Patel and Deepak Hooda perform with both balls.
“There were Sehwag, Sachin, Yuvraj, Raina. But in the past 3-4 years, you had nobody. So, the whole balance of the side was compromised. So, it was good to see someone like Axar and Hooda in your side. They can bowl, they can bat,” Ravi Shastri said.
Shastri said that the Indian skipper needs to have better communication with selectors and tell him that they do need to identify a batter in the top-6 position, who can contribute 5-6 overs with the ball as well.
“What can help is a better communication between a captain and the selector. Where the selectors are told to identify one player in the top-6 positions who can give you 4-5 overs. ‘I want someone who can bowl 4-5 overs. Find someone in the domestic cricket who can do that. Go and find that guy for me',” he said.
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Shastri said that India needs to have batters who enjoys bowling. He cited the example of Sachin Tendulkar, saying that the batting great had ‘keeda to bowl’ and after contributing with the bat he desperately wanted to bowl.
“At the end of the day, surely there are batsmen around the country who enjoy bowling, who have that 'keeda' to bowl. Like Tendulkar had that 'keeda'. If he finished the batting, he was like, 'I don't care'. He would take the ball and try different deliveries like off-spin, leg-spin. So that is keeda. So there are plenty. Ajay (Jadeja) would love to bowl after he finished his batting.
“So you have to identify. You have 1.4 billion people man, and you are trying to tell me, keeda nahi hai kisi batsman ke paas, bowling karne ka? Kamaal hai (No batsman is interested in bowling? It's impossible. Someone like Tendulkar fancied bowling. No one in such a huge country does that now? It's unbelievable)," he said.
(Fan Code inputs)
