Former India opener Gautam Gambhir has named Team India’s spinners’ inability to claim wickets as their biggest concern heading into the business end of the ongoing T20 World Cup. The Indian team will face Zimbabwe in a must-win game in Melbourne on Sunday (November 6). They will face England in the semi-finals if they win that clash against the Chevrons as well.
During a discussion on Star Sports, Gambhir said: “If there is one concern, it is your spin bowling, because your spinners have not picked up wickets. That is one area which is a huge concern because if you don’t pick up wickets in the middle overs, and if you are playing against England in the semi-final, it can come back to hurt you.”
Gambhir continued: “If India are missing anything, it is a wrist-spinner. They should play a wrist-spinner. You are playing Ashwin because he will give you a little bit of batting, but you need that batting only if you don’t score runs at the top.”
Meanwhile, Gautam Gambhir stated that all pitches in the upcoming matches will assist leg-spinners as well.
He explained: “So play Chahal, Melbourne is a big ground. After that, if you play in Sydney, he will get help there as well, and the way Ish Sodhi bowled today in Adelaide. If you see the performance of wrist-spinners in this entire tournament, they have performed exceptionally well – Shadab Khan, Adam Zampa.”
However, Yuzvendra Chahal is yet to play a match in the T20 World Cup. While R Ashwin has been part of the playing XI in all four games, Axar Patel has missed one game so far as well where Deepak Hooda got the chance against South Africa to add a bit more depth to the batting attack.
Gautam Gambhir explained: “They have not played bad cricket. The top four have scored runs sometime or the other. Virat Kohli is in good form. KL Rahul has scored runs. Rohit Sharma has scored a fifty in this tournament, and Suryakumar Yadav is in excellent form.”
However, Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav have been doing well with the bat in the tournament. Although KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma have scored fifty apiece, they will need to be more consistent to win their second title as well.
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