The Chennai Super Kings (CSK) head-coach Stephen Fleming has advised the India management, under the captaincy of Rohit Sharma and their head coach Rahul Dravid to use ace spin all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja in a better shape in this T20 World Cup 2024.
When was the last time, India used two left-arm spinners in the team? No know remembers because that has happened hardly. But under the captaincy of Rohit Sharma, India have gone with Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel in this ongoing 20-over event, in the West Indies and the United States of America (USA).
When the squad the announced, it felt like the team would go with the leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, the Chainaman Kuldeep Yadav, and one of the left-arm spinners- which mostly was going to be Jadeja in the playing eleven.
‘You have got to make sure the man management is pretty sound’- Stephen Fleming
The Former New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming feels that India should manage the ego point between Jadeja and Axar pretty well, given both of them have the same sort of skill set of coming in the middle overs and batting at the lower order.
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When India played their group stage games at the Nassau County International Stadium in New York, the pitch was slightly towards the favor of the bowlers, who were getting so much help off the surface. On the other hand, the bating was so tough, which pushed them to select an extra batter for the team.
Once India qualified for the ‘super eight’ stage of the tournament and move to the Caribbean, they straightaway used Chinaman Kuldeep Yadav in the team, in place of Mohammad Siraj. There was that game against Pakistan when Axar was promoted to number four in the batting order after they were struggling early with a few early and quick wickets.
Jadeja hasn’t been needed on many occasions with the bat, but Rohit not throwing the ball to him shows the confidence of the side too. It was quite clear that the India captain preferred Axar with the ball, as the latter’s over towards the back end against Australia was quite vital for the team to put pressure on the opponents.
However, Stephen Fleming still believes that the India captain should take care of the veteran all-rounder a little better as he could come up with match-winning spells out of nowhere.
‘In some tournaments, he doesn’t really feature for a while and then all of a sudden, he’ll get a 4/16, 4/20 and score runs with the bat and that’s why he is such an effective player in your side.’ The former NZ opener Stephen Fleming expressed this during a chat with ESPNcricinfo.
He also talks about how there should not be any ego battle between Jadeja and Axar in the team, which the captain and coach must ensure.
‘India have got Axar working away too. You can combine the two and get a pretty good result.’ Stephen Fleming remarked. ‘You’ve just got to make sure that in terms of an ego point of view during those middle overs, having someone doing the same skillset is not having an impact on either of them.’
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Ravindra Jadeja is coming into the tournament on the back of his 267 runs in 14 innings at an average of 44.50, and strike rate of 142.78, with one fifty.
‘You’ve got to make sure the man management is pretty sound. But you can’t count Jadeja out. When the conditions are right, the pace that he bowls is spot on, he is gonna cause problems.’ The veteran CSK coach Stephen Fleming reflected. ‘Sometimes you’ve just got to wait a little longer and hang tight for your bowlers. Jadeja towards the backend of the tournament.’
India’s semi-final game is against England at the Providence Stadium in Guyana, on June 27.