Former cricketers Gautam Gambhir and Wasim Akram were not impressed with the way the Indian team has gone about with their new aggressive batting approach in the T20Is which began under the captaincy of Rohit Sharma.
This came after India lost a couple of early wickets in their first match of the Asia Cup 2022 against Pakistan as KL Rahul was bowled by Naseem Shah for a first-ball duck and then Rohit Sharma (12) and Virat Kohli (35) were dismissed in quick succession by Mohammad Nawaz as the Men in Blue chased 147 runs. Suryakumar Yadav followed soon for 18 runs with India at 89/4 in the 15th over.
In the end, it came to Hardik Pandya (33*) and Ravindra Jadeja (35) and their 52-run fifth-wicket partnership that took India home with Pandya hitting a six in the last over to win the encounter with India having five wickets in hand.
On-air commentators Gautam Gambhir and Wasim Akram weren't too impressed with India's “approach” in this game, which has become a template for the side in the shortest format of the game.
“It's India vs Pakistan match. You don't want to risk it, you would want to play 20 overs and get the target. Have a positive approach, sure, but also assess the situation,” Akram said on air during his stint on Star Sports.
On the other hand, Gambhir was more critical of the new batting approach and said that the main aim should be winning the match, doesn’t matter if it's in the 15th over or the 19th over.
“Positivity doesn't mean you need to go ‘bang bang’. And what is this approach that we keep talking about, the English approach and all that stuff? The only approach is to win a game of cricket, whether you win it in the 15th over or the 19th over, it doesn't matter. As long as the approach depends on the condition, you're playing on that as well,” Gambhir said.
“If there's something in the new ball and you try to go really hard, you might end up losing 3-4 wickets in the first six overs, the game is over. When we talk about template or batting at a certain tempo, I absolutely don't agree with it,” he added.
Akram replied that he has been consistently hearing about the changed approach of the Indian team, Gambhir further added that the men in blue might end up hurting themselves in a bid to stick to the approach.
“That's what I've been hearing ever since I came here. ‘The Indian mindset has changed’ and the ‘captain doesn’t want someone to get 60 off 50 deliveries, he wants them to get 50 off 25'. But then, it depends on the situations,” Akram said.
“That is what the T20 format is made for. It is to express yourself. But if you are chasing 148, why would you go for 60 in six overs when you can also end up losing five wickets going really hard? You can get the opposition back in the game!” concluded Gambhir.
(Star Sports inputs)
