Former Pakistan cricketer Rashid Latif has shared his opinion on India’s preparation for the ODI World Cup in India as he believes that India would have been better prepared if Virat Kohli has continued as the skipper of the Indian team and also raised his concern regarding the team’s middle order going into Asia Cup 2023.
Indian all-format skipper Rohit Sharma failed to lead the Indian team to the ICC title in the 2022 T20 World Cup–and in the recently-concluded World Test Championship final against Australia in Kennington, Oval. Virat Kohli had come under a lot of criticism, especially during his captaincy tenure, where he failed to win a single ICC trophy for India.
Speaking on Cricket Baaz Youtube Channel, Rashid Latif feels that India would have 100 percent ready for the World Cup if they have continued with Virat Kohli as the skipper of the team and said that the team has tried too many players in the middle order without giving consistent chances to the players.
“If they had allowed Virat Kohli to continue as captain, India would have been 100 percent ready for the World Cup by this time.”
“Indian team management has experimented with several players and if I talk about their batting the middle and lower order say from 4 to 7 they just have not allowed any new player to settle down with frequent changes. I say risky because KL and Iyer are returning from injuries,” Rashid Latif said.
Virat Kohli stepped down as India’s T20I captain after the T20 World Cup 2021 and in Tests from January 2022 and also stepped down for RCB captaincy in 2021 following his poor run in the captaincy failing to win major trophies during his stint with the Indian team and IPL as the team skipper.
I Feel Asian Teams Will Struggle To Match These Sides Are Particularly In The Middle Overs – Rashid Latif
Rashid Latif feels that the Asian team will struggle in the middle overs to match the power-hitting skills of the England, Australia, and New Zealand batters as they have got enough firepower to take on the spinners in the middle overs as they have got a variety of shots in their arsenal.
“The one area where I feel Asian teams will struggle to match these sides are particularly in the middle overs when a fast strike rate is required even in 50-overs. The English, Australian, and New Zealand batters have turned to reverse sweep and switch shots against the spinners into something very lethal nowadays,” Rashid Latif added.
England, Australia, and New Zealand have got power hitters in their teams, who can take the match away from the opponents with their unorthodox style of batting as they have got the likes of Ben Stokes, Glenn Maxwell, and Glenn Philips in their teams to change the momentum in the middle overs while the Asian teams lack firepower to accelerate in the middle overs.