Indian World Cup winner Ravi Shastri believes that the Indian team needs the left-hander batter in their top six to provide a perfect balance in the team for the forthcoming ODI World Cup in India. The Men in Blue does not have Left-hander in their top six in the ODI team.
The batting order is filled with Right-handed batters with Ravindra Jadeja being the only Left-hander in the playing 11, Shubman Gill, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya, and Shreyas Iyer have almost sealed their place in the playing 11 for the Asia Cup 2023 and ODI World Cup, as it is difficult for the Indian team to bring in a left-hander in the middle order.
Ravi Shastri feels that the Indian team needs to find out the right balance for the marquee event and believes that a Left-handed batter in the middle order can make a big difference in that batting order and reckons that the team should have two-left hander in the top six and cited out the examples of the Left handers contribution in the marquee events over last few World Cups.
“No, that is going to be a challenge. You will have to see closer to the event. Form again becomes important. You need to strike the right balance. Do you think a left-hander will make a difference at the top? It does not have to be opening but in the top three or four. You have to weigh all those options. Ideally, in the top six, I would like to see two left-handers,” Ravi Shastri said.
“Whenever you have done well [left-handers contributed]. In 2011, you had [Gautam] Gambhir, Yuvraj [Singh], and [Suresh] Raina. Go back to 1974… [Alvin] Kallicharran, [Roy] Fredericks, [Clive] Lloyd… The same in 1979. The 1983 team was the only one that did not have a left-hander, but that whole tournament was against all odds,” Ravi Shastri added.
The batting order of the Indian team is almost sorted out with a wicket-keeper spot up for the grabs in the side and the spinner spot will be tested in the forthcoming series, as the spinners will play a crucial role in the team’s success in the ODI World Cup 2023.
There Is Enough Left-handed Talent That Can Replace Any Senior Player At The Moment – Ravi Shastri
Ravi Shastri believes that the Indian team has got enough Left handed talent in the country, as he feels that Ishan Kishan, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and Tilak Varma are capable of replacing any player at the moment in the ODI team.
“You have Ishan Kishan. In the wicketkeeping department, you have Sanju. But the left-handers, you have Jaiswal, Tilak Varma. There is enough left-handed talent that can replace any senior player at the moment,” Ravi Shastri further added.
It would be a gamble by the Indian team to bring in Yashasvi Jaiswal or Tilak Varma or Rinku to the team with the World Cup being scheduled in October-November, as these youngsters are yet to make their debut for the Indian team at the senior level, as they would not have experience of playing against high-quality opponents in the mega-events.