Former Pakistan captain Rashid Latif has expressed his views regarding the mess of selections and planning that has happened and going on in the Indian white-ball team over the past year or so.
The management of captain Rohit Sharma and head coach Rahul Dravid has come under heavy scrutiny for their mismanagement of players and their roles in the lead up to the World Cup 2023. India still don’t know what their best XI is, and who are the first-choice players, and who will be their backups with just two months left for the tournament.
Virat Kohli’s captaincy saga in late 2021, when he was sacked as the ODI captain, was a big talking point.
Former Pakistan batsman Rashid Latif feels that India wouldn’t have been in this selection mess that they are under Rohit Sharma if the BCCI hadn’t sacked Kohli as the ODI skipper.
“Indian team management has experimented with several players and if I talk about their batting the middle and lower order say from 4 to 7 they just have not allowed any new player to settle down with frequent changes,” Rashid Latif said in an interview with to the Cricket Baaz Youtube channel.
“If they had allowed Virat Kohli to continue as captain, India would be 100 percent ready for the World Cup by this time.”
Asian teams will struggle in World Cup 2023: Rashid Latif
Rashid Latif also opined that the Asian teams will struggle to match other teams like Australia and England in the middle-overs phase of the matches during the World Cup. The Pakistani stumper reckons Asian teams don’t have the innovative shots to tackle the spinners in the middle–overs.
“The one area where I feel Asian teams will struggle to match these sides are particularly in the middle overs when a fast strike rate is required even in 50-overs. The English, Australian and New Zealand batters have turned to reverse sweep and switch shots against the spinners into something very lethal nowadays.”
“A bowler like Adil Rashid or someone like Moeen Ali buy their wickets whereas our spinners focus more on economical bowling. This will be one of the most closely contested World Cups and I don’t see Asian teams getting any extra edge because it is being held in India,” he added.
