Team India has a serious problem – no batting armor & firepower down the lineup.
With the West Indies registering their win against India in the Second ODI, serious questions are being raised about team India’s batting lineup. In the absence of Virat Kohli & Rohit Sharma, the Hardik Pandya led side leaves a sour performance. Batting first, India started off well – until the 15th over.
Opener Shubman Gill fell first for 34 of 49 balls. Ishan Kishan (55 of 55 balls) falling in the successive over, post which the batting order collapses like dominos.
The likes of Sanju Samson, Hardik Pandya, & Axar Patel barely managed to score in single digits before crumbling. Suryakumar Yadav (24 of 25 balls) held the crease – eventually not managing to cross 30 runs in a low scoring total.
The likes of Ravindra Jadeja, who managed to score a mere 10 of 21 balls, fails to impress with the bat.
This performance exposes the mere chink in the armour of quality middle order batsman of the team, who are left with barely 2 months before the start of the Cricket World Cup. While experimentation is encouraged to determine best suitability, however, sticking to a set of specific players and aligning them to their batting order is something India should drastically work on.
The West Indies, who have not qualified for the World Cup, seem to put up a lingering performance on the field. Romairo Shepard & Gudakesh Motie scrapped 3 wickets each with Alzarri Joseph picking up 2 wickets.
It seems like limited exposure to long formats of the game has taken a toll on the young side, where BCCI is so desperate to rid the services of Rohit Sharma & Virat Kohli. As it stands, team India must continue with the likes of Kohli & Sharma unless players have more exposure to the longer formats of the game.
