The Indian team management may drop at least one among three out-of-form batters and revisit its one-dimensional template of playing too many left-handers in the top-order, indicated head coach Gautam Gambhir's understudies Ryan Ten Doeschate and Sitanshu Kotak.
South Africa thrashed India by 76 runs in a Super Eight clash of the T20 World Cup here on Sunday and with two must-win games left, the team management might have to revisit the performances of Abhishek Sharma (15 runs in four games) and Tilak Varma (107 runs in five games at a strike rate of 118). The designated finisher Rinku Singh’s aggregate of 24 runs in 29 balls at a disastrous strike rate of 82.75 is also embarrassing.
“If head coach and team management feels we need to do something different we will do things differently. Definitely, a thought now comes that if we have to change, what do we change and how do we change,” said batting coach Sitanshu Kotak. “Now we have reached a point where we need to think if we need to do something different or stick with the same combination,” he said.
Ten Doeschate was a bit more forthcoming when he admitted that it is indeed a “concern” that there are no back-up specialist batters in the squad and Sanju Samson, despite his wretched form, might be back in the mix.
The logic could be bringing in a right hander to break the monotony. "You stick with the guys who you feel have performed really well over the last 18 months and maybe shy of a few runs now? Or do we twist and bring Sanju, who's also a fantastic player and obviously helps tactically with having a right hander at the top of the order,” Ten Doeschate also echoed Kotak’s sentiments, but with more definitive answer that changes could be on cards.
“I’m sure that Samson's inclusion will be a talking point over the next few days going into these two very important games Zimbabwe and West Indies.” Doechate said Rinku, coming in at Nos 7 or 8, hasn’t really helped his cause as it has been an incredibly difficult position to bat on.
“It’s time to pull our sleeves up and get performance out of all the players, and that's the challenge for the staff, along with the players now, to regroup and put in a big effort leading up to the next game against Zimbabwe,” Doeschate said.
“I certainly won't make excuses for Abhi or Tilak, they don't need excuses made for them but I think Abhi's preparation coming into the World Cup with the food poisoning that he had at one stage has obviously hampered his progress in terms of where we want him to be at this phase,” he added.
Also read: Spotlight on spinners as England take on Pak
Follow us
