Irfan Pathan, despite India’s 3-0 clean sweep in the recently-concluded India-New Zealand T20I series, pointed out one area of concern.
Former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan feels that the team’s middle-order needs to take more responsibility despite the top-order’s impressive returns with the bat, pointing it out as an area of concern India needs to look at. Despite the issue, India went on to beat New Zealand by a margin of 73 runs, after batting first, to register a 3-0 clean sweep over New Zealand at the iconic Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Sunday.
Irfan Pathan: Rishabh Pant Has To Keep Working On His Batting, Especially Against Spinners
After India’s blistering powerplay show where the openers Ishan Kishan and Rohit Sharma stitched a 69-run stand in 38 deliveries, the middle order batsmen(No.4 to 7) scored only 51 runs off 45 balls, laced with three boundaries and one six.
In conversation with Star Sports at the end of India’s innings, Irfan Pathan felt that Rishabh Pant, who scored 4 off 6, should have taken more time to settle in and advised him to get better at playing spin. Irfan Pathan also did not read much into Suryakumar Yadav’s four-ball duck, explaining that he is a “high-risk, high reward player”.
“Look in terms of Rishabh’s batting, the kind of shot he played, he needs to keep working on his batting specially against spinners. Since maybe 2020, he has gone out to spinners playing the slog sweep about six or seven times which is quite high. He needs to just get better at it. He could have taken a bit more time as well. And look when I talk about Suryakumar Yadav, I always believe he’s a fantastic player, but he’s a high risk, high reward kind of player, ” said Irfan Pathan.
Despite a poor show from the middle order, two breathtaking and unlikely cameos powered India to a challenging 184 for seven in 20 overs. Coming in at No. 8, Harshal Patel smashed two boundaries and a six to score 18 off 11, while No.9 Deepak Chahar, reminded fans of his Sri Lanka heroics, hit eight-ball 21, comprising as many boundaries and sixes, as India hit 44 runs in the final four overs.
Axar Patel And Rohit Sharma’s Heroics Saw India Win Inconsequential T20I By 73 Runs And Series 3-0
A dominant bowling performance helped India restrict New Zealand to just 111 runs as the hosts registered a massive 73-run win to register a 3-0 whitewash. The Indian skipper Rohit Sharma first made a statement scoring 56 off 31 balls in India’s 184 for 7 and then made some immaculate captaincy calls which witnessed New Zealand’s surrender for a paltry 111 runs in 17.2 overs.
It was a second back-to-back bilateral T20I series triumph with a clean sweep for India after beating the Black Caps 5-0 in their own den in 2020. Axar Patel (3/9) bowled accurately and also got one to turn as his three wickets in Powerplay literally ended New Zealand’s resistance, and the rest was a mere formality.
Opener Ishan Kishan (29 off 21 balls), middle-order batsmen Shreyas Iyer (25 off 20 balls), and Venkatesh Iyer (20 off 15 balls) all got starts but couldn’t convert it into a big score. Rohit Sharma’s sequence of scores in the last six T20 Internationals is 74, 30, 56, 48, 55, and 56, and captaincy hasn’t changed his style of play one bit.