Team India needs to work on its fielding, batting is brilliant, says Ravi Shastri: Former Indian head coach, Ravi Shastri was all praises as he termed the current Indian batting unit as their greatest ever in the history of the shortest format of cricket. However, the veteran coach mentioned that the Indian players must put hard yards into their fielding abilities if they want to bring India’s second T20 World Cup title home.
The Men in Blue won the inaugural edition of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup back in 2007, but since then India has failed multiple times to fetch the T20 glory. India failed to make it to the knockout stage in the last edition of the T20 World Cup which was held in the UAE in 2021.
The current Indian batting is bolstered with the likes of Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul and Virat Kohli at the top order. The batting reins are held by Suryakumar Yadav, Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya and Rishabh Pant in the middle order.
All the aforementioned batters are highly talented and have again and again shown why they are rated above others.
“I have been part of the system for the last six-seven years, first as a coach and now I am watching from the outside, and I think this is as good a line-up as India has ever had in T20 cricket,” Shastri declared during an event at the Mumbai Press Club.
“With Surya (Yadav) at No.4, Hardik (Pandya) at No.5 and Rishabh Pant or Dinesh Karthik at No.6 it makes a massive difference as it allows the top order to play the way they are playing.”
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India needs to bring A game in fielding department: Shastri
Shastri, who worked as India’s head coach for four years, believes that India will have to push themselves in the fielding department throughout the tournament.
“One area that India will have to pick up and start right from the beginning is fielding. They need to work hard and get their A-game on the field when they step out (in the first game) against Pakistan,” he said.
“Those 15-20 runs that you save can make all the difference because otherwise every time you get out to bat, you need to get 15-20 runs extra.”
The 60-year-old former Indian World Cup-winning cricketer went on to laud Australia, England and South Africa for their fielding brilliance.
“For sides like Australia, England, and South Africa they field like crazy. Look at what Sri Lanka did in the Asia Cup with fielding. They won a tight game against Pakistan riding on fielding.” Shastri said.
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