Former England captain and cricket commentator, Nasser Hussain, hailed India’s bench strength after the tourists defeated England by 5 wickets in the third and final ODI at Old Trafford Cricket Ground on Sunday (July 17) to win the series by a margin of 2-1.
However, Hussain said that Team India must avoid being timid with the bat if they want to win the upcoming T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia later this year.
Nasser Hussain said on Sony Sports Network: “India is a very strong team, but they need to learn from what happened in the past. In the last T20 World Cup in the UAE they were a bit timid with the bat, so they need to stop being that. When you have Pandya and Pant in the middle order and then Jadeja that rope to follow, you don’t need to be timid at the top.”
Recalling India’s poor batting against Pakistan in the T20 World Cup 2021 and the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 final, the cricketer-turned-commentator said that India needs to play left-arm pacers a little better.
Hussain further explained, “They need to play to left arm [pace bowling] a little bit better. History tells you that Shaheen Shah Afridi blew them away one evening in Dubai, Mohammad Amir blew them away one afternoon at the Oval in a final, and Reece Topley has blown them away here [at Old Trafford].
They need to be a bit more tensed to their batting so some of their seamers will come down in a T20, in the last two overs with 20 to win. One of those seamers will need them to get across the line.”
He also believes that the struggling batter Virat Kohli will be fine after the break he got for the West Indies tour, saying India just needs to play the ICC tournaments as they play in bilateral series.
Hussain signed off by saying, “They have got fit; they have seamers to die for. Their batting, Virat Kohli will be fine. Once he is out of the break, he will be absolutely fine. They are positioned nicely. They just got to play ICC tournaments just like they play bilateral tournaments.”
(Sony Sports inputs)
