In their only warm-up fixture against Bangladesh ahead of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024, India didn’t use Yashasvi Jaiswal in the batting order and rather opened with their captain Rohit Sharma, and Sanju Samson, who got some game-time under his belt.
Virat Kohli wasn’t part of the game, due to coming later on May 31 in New York, as the inaugural champions of the tournament went with Rishabh Pant as their number three. Suryakumar Yadav walked into the middle at number four, and this combination suggests that India may open with Rohit and Virat in their opening fixture against Ireland.
Even though the captain has admitted to not confirming any batting order for the tournament, but in all likelihood, the Rajasthan Royals opener looks to be missing out, at least for the beginning of the competition.
Irfan Pathan Backs Yashasvi Jaiswal’s Inclusion In India XI
The former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan hasn’t liked the move of opening with Virat Kohli, as he feels that the best position for the 35-year-old would be his favourable number three position. Kohli is coming into the tournament on the back of a successful Indian Premier League (IPL) where he smashed 741 runs in 15 innings.
During a discussion with Star Sports, Pathan highlighted a major reason why Jaiswal shouldn’t be dropped from the playing XI as he sparked a discussion of the build-up of the last year’s ODI World Cup and especially after India’s defeat against Australia during the final.
The former all-rounder reckons that India, not having enough options in the bowling department could be the reason for their exit of the competition. Jaiswal superbly began his T20I career, nailing 502 T20I runs in 16 innings at an average of 33.46 and a strike rate of 161.93, with four fifties and one hundred.
“With the selected team, there can be two combinations. In one combination, you can play with six bowlers, including Axar Patel, to deepen the batting lineup,” the former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan expressed during a discussion on Star Sports.
“In the other combination, you can play with four front-line bowlers and expect Shivam Dube and Hardik Pandya to bowl. Another option for Team India is a young player who bowls in the nets but hasn’t bowled in matches, Yashasvi Jaiswal. Shivam Dube also mentioned during the IPL that he has been regularly bowling in the nets, preparing to bowl one or two overs in the World Cup.”
The left-hander also feels that with three right-handers of Kohli, Rohit and Suryakumar, none of whom bowl, India may get a little bit of handicapped going into the business end of the tournament, as the other teams while Australia and England have all-rounders have players, who could bat in the top order, and bowl a bit.
“If Hardik can give you the option of bowling three to four overs, this problem will be largely solved. Our other batsmen, like Rohit, Virat, or Suryakumar Yadav, can’t bowl, which makes us somewhat handicapped. Ideally, if any of these players could bowl, it would greatly benefit the team,” the veteran remarked during the same discussion.
“We talk about Australia, but even England has many all-rounders among their top seven players, including Moeen Ali, Liam Livingstone, and Will Jacks.”
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Another former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar also believes that the lack of all-rounders is still the only weakness of the Indian team, who are aiming for their second trophy of the tournament since 2007.
“Lack of all-rounders is a bit of a weakness for Team India. If you look at Australia, their batters like Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, and Cameron Green can bowl four overs in a match,” the renowned commentator Sanjay Manjrekar pointed out.
“Yes, it’s a small weakness, and now with the impact substitute rule in the IPL, this problem might increase. We currently rely on specialist bowlers and batters, but in this World Cup, the team will need to make some adjustments, and someone will have to bowl at least two to three overs in a match.”
India will take on Pakistan on June 09, at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium, New York.