Nasser Hussain, a former England captain, has criticized the Men in Blue’s opening batting despite the Men in Blue’s ability to go to the T20 World Cup semifinals in Australia.
Hussain claims that Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul, the opening batsmen for Men in Blue, are both opening in an “outdated” manner.
Since 2013, an ICC trophy has eluded a nation that is a powerhouse in cricket. MS Dhoni was still the captain of India when it last triumphed at an ICC competition, the 2013 Champions Trophy. Currently, the team is being led by Rohit Sharma.
India finished first in Group 2 and advanced to the semifinals, where they will play England on Thursday. India had four victories in their five games to finish first. But Rohit Sharma’s performance hasn’t quite lived up to expectations.
With the exception of a half-century against the Netherlands, he struggled to score heavily against Pakistan (four), South Africa (15), Bangladesh (2), and Zimbabwe (15). KL Rahul, who opens with Rohit and has so far scored two half-centuries, is in the better form overall, although he also struggled in the first three games.
Nasser Hussain, a former captain of England, has criticized the pair for their “traditional” style of play.
Nasser Hussain’s statement
“They have underperformed in international competitions, you must admit. When working for Sky last summer, their former coach Ravi Shastri said they needed to adjust the way they sometimes played hesitant cricket with the bat for the players they had “Hussain published a piece in his Daily Mail column.
“Although Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul do play somewhat traditionally in the opening few overs, India has benefited from this strategy throughout the tournament since the ball has moved around early on. India must be more dynamic if they are to win World Cups, which is why Suryakumar Yadav, also known as SKY, has been so crucial.”
Suryakumar, who has 225 runs in five games at the T20 World Cup, received lavish praise from Hussain.
“At three and four, where Virat Kohli is still the coach and now has a sizable apprentice in SKY, India will become more dynamic. In the group stage at Melbourne, Kohli’s knock against Pakistan was the best white-ball innings I can recall seeing.
“He played several fantastic strokes at the end, such as smashing Haris Rauf right back over his head for six and timed his innings in an impressive manner. Any professional cricketer who saw that on television would have stood up and exclaimed, “Wow!” Hussain penned.”
India has now advanced to the semifinal of the T20 World Cup four times. They have only ever won the competition once, in 2007.
Here are more stories related to cricket.