A month out from the T20 World Cup 2022, India’s recent losses have now posed a major concern regarding their death bowling and defending totals in batting-friendly conditions.
In the Asia Cup, in Dubai, India failed to defend 181 vs Pakistan and 173 vs Sri Lanka, and followed it up with another failure while defending 208 vs Australia in Mohali.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who had conceded 19 runs vs Pakistan and 14 runs vs Sri Lanka in the two 19th overs in Dubai, was again expensive in the death – against Australia, he was smashed for 16 runs in the 19th over and 15 runs in the 17th over. Harshal Patel, who was returning from an injury lay-off, was smoked for 22 runs in the 18th over.
And even though, admittedly, Dubai and Mohali are chasing-advantage venues, the fact that India’s death bowlers were taken to cleaners in these games cannot be ignored.
Sanjay Manjrekar gives a funny way out for India to win matches
Former India batsman and now a commentator Sanjay Manjrekar reckoned Indian captain Rohit Sharma needs luck to be on his side and needs to find that fortune so that the coin toss falls in his favour.
In both the losses in Dubai – vs Pakistan and Sri Lanka – and in Mohali – vs Australia – Rohit Sharma lost the toss. The opposition captains – Babar Azam, Dasun Shanaka and Aaron Finch – won the toss and elected to bowl first, knowing the conditions and pitch helps the chasing side at these two venues.
“Despite the loss important & critical positives for India. The way Rahul, Hardik were hitting the ball. What can India do to win? Well find a way to win the toss,” Manjrekar tweeted.
Despite the loss important & critical positives for India. The way Rahul, Hardik were hitting the ball. What can India do to win? Well find a way to win the toss.
— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) September 21, 2022
As Manjrekar mentioned in his tweet, India’s positives from the Mohali loss came largely from the batting department: KL Rahul shed his conservative approach and scored 55 runs off 35 balls; Hardik Pandya continued to bat in his rich vein of form, smashing 71* off 30 balls.
India’s only positive from the bowling department was Axar Patel, who returned with stunning figures of 3/17 in 4 overs while the rest of the Indian bowlers leaked at more than 10 runs an over.
The second T20I is scheduled for Friday at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Nagpur.
