NEW DELHI: Following India’s recent loss to New Zealand and their drop to second place in the World Test Championship, former Pakistan cricketer Danish Kaneria has weighed in on the team’s challenges.
With the crucial Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia being India’s only remaining assignment in the current WTC cycle, Kaneria believes India captain Rohit Sharma needs to change his batting position.
In an exclusive interview with the TimesofIndia.com, Kaneria expressed his concern over the form of India’s top order. He specifically highlighted the struggles of Rohit and Virat Kohli, suggesting a change in the batting order for the captain.
“Just see if Rohit Sharma is still comfortable opening or if he should come in one-down and change his order a little bit because he has been struggling with the track in India. In the recent series, Southee got him out twice, and the ball will move more over there in Australia, so you have to see how you go with that,” said Kaneria.
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Rohit has been dismissed by New Zealand pacers four out of six times in a Test series where spinners dominated. Rohit’s vulnerability towards pace and swing highlighted concerns for the Indian batting order.
“The Indian top order should be Jaiswal and Shubman as openers, Rohit coming one-down, and Virat two-down. They have to manage that. Gambhir needs to manage the long Indian batting line-up, as Ashwin and Jadeja are there, so they have a deep batting line-up,” Kaneria said.
Kaneria emphasised that the success of the team hinges on the performance of the top order. He believes that a failure to score runs puts undue pressure on the lower order, particularly Rishabh Pant.
“Indian batters need to click; that’s the only concern. If the bowlers take wickets, then the batters need to click. A Test is won by bowlers, so Indian batting needs to click as their top order, where Rohit and Kohli are struggling with runs. They have to click and take responsibility because it goes down to the wire for Pant to take responsibility. Sarfaraz is doing well, but the pressure from the top order not clicking puts pressure down the line,” explained Kaneria.
“If you don’t click, then you have to survive and get runs, which is very difficult. Indian bowlers need support from Indian batters as they should put more runs on the board,” Kaneria added.
PTI Photo
The former Pakistan spinner believes that the rise of T20 cricket has negatively impacted Indian batters’ ability to face spin bowling.
“I have seen over many years that Indian batters used to play spinners well, and I have been part of Pakistan’s bowling and seen Indian batters playing well, but nowadays Indian batters are struggling with spin bowling because of T20 cricket,” he said.
India’s loss to New Zealand resulted in a drop to a 58.33 points percentage in the World Test Championship standings. Australia now sit atop the table with a 62.5 points percentage.
To secure a spot in the next WTC final, India face a daunting task. The team will need to win at least four matches in their upcoming five-match Test series against Australia.