Former Indian cricketer VVS Laxman has recently opened up about the problem of Indian middle-order batting in limited-overs cricket. He feels that the Indian middle-order batting needs to learn adaptability and situational awareness.
At present, the Indian top-order batsmen are playing the most crucial roles in batting in limited-overs cricket. Their strong batting is mostly taking up the pressure from the middle-order batsmen. Even sometimes the middle-order batsmen are not getting proper opportunities. So, Laxman feels that the middle-order batsmen need to learn adaptability and situational awareness.
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In the last T20I against South Africa at Bengaluru, the Indian middle-order batsmen failed to perform. At one stage of that game, the hosts India were batting on 63/1 in 7.1 overs. But then, the middle-order batsmen failed to maintain that momentum as India lost their next wickets at regular intervals. Finally, India managed to score 134/9 (20 overs) in the first innings. South Africa easily chased down that target in 16.5 overs after losing only one wicket.
Laxman wrote in his column for TOI, “…the sustained success of any unit lies in its adaptability and situational awareness, and I think that’s a lesson the Indian middle-order would have learnt. Like in 50-over cricket, India look to their top three to do the bulk of the heavy lifting in T20s too. As a result, the middle-order is sometimes light on chances, which is why when you get them, you must make the most of the opportunities. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen on Sunday night, which is why from 63 for one, India could only manage 134.”
Defeat at the Chinnaswamy Stadium is a setback, but nothing more than that – VVS Laxman
However, Laxman doesn’t feel big issue on India’s defeat in the Bengaluru T20I. He believes that India needs to focus on building up a solid team for the ICC World T20 2020 rather than the game result.
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Laxman added, “Defeat at the Chinnaswamy Stadium is a setback, but nothing more than that, as the team sets about formalising its game plans and strategies. It has been obvious for a while now that India have identified aggressive batting as the way to go forward in T20s, especially given the depth that sees Washington Sundar come in at No. 9 and Deepak Chahar at No. 10.”
The ICC Men’s World T20 2020 will be held from 18th October to 15th November 2020. Australia will host this tournament.