Looking at the team combination and the pitches used for matches in this series I feel India is not preparing well for the upcoming T20 World Cup which is to be played in the West Indies and the USA in June 2024. With the pitches in the World Cup likely to be slow and assist the spinners India should find a way to play 3 spinners and make the pitches accordingly.
Coming to the match the Indian batters are looking good with their approach and the youngsters performing gives India a good squad depth. Bowling is looking is an area of concern for India. Arshdeep Singh who has been the regular in the T20I is not performing well and adding to it, he really struggled to bowl in the death. Avesh bowled decently in the first match since his return. But the most disappointing performance will be the bowling of Prasidh Krishna. He really struggled to hit the right line and length throughout this series and offered freebies to the batsmen he was bowling too straight with pace which helped the batsmen to play comfortably.
The spinners Axar and Bishnoi were brilliant and controlled the run flow to some parts. Surya, who has been brilliant with his decisions and rotation of bowlers in this series, had an off day. India would still have won the match had Kishan didn’t commit those errors in the penultimate over. With 21 to defend off the final over and having 1 fielder extra inside the circle due to penalty didn’t help the bowler. But what looked surprising was Prasidh Krishna who bowled some excellent slower deliveries in his previous over which worked so well for him not trying to bowl any in the final over.
Lack of Batting Depth and no signs of trying to improve the all-rounders
The team is looking good, but the lack of all-rounders and the batting depth is looking like a concern. The major problem for India in recent global tournaments has been the lack of all-rounders. With most of the teams in the world now having capable batters till 8 or 9 in their T20I setup, India look lost and couldn’t find many. Players like Tilak Varma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and Shivam Dube have to be given opportunities, especially with the ball so they can improve their secondary skills.
Yesterday was one match where India might have used to get one or two overs of them with the frontline bowlers getting bashed. These are the games that present you with that opportunity. There is no use bowling them when your team is in a comfortable position and winning the game with them bowling to tailenders, the pressure situations when your main bowlers aren’t performing well is where you need the part-timers.
The role of domestic cricket and the Indian Premier League
The BCCI introducing the Impact player in IPL has to be one of the worst decisions ever. That decision almost nullified the role of all-rounders with teams preferring pure bowlers to do the job for them. If that was not enough the Impact player was introduced in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. With these decisions now the all-rounders are not getting enough exposure with the ball and that doesn’t look good for the Indian team going forward.
Also Read: IND vs AUS: Australia’s Flamboyant All-Rounder Glenn Maxwell Steals The Victory From India