"We have lost wickets in clusters" - Aakash Chopra on Team India's batting issues ahead of T20 World Cup 2022
Aakash Chopra has picked losing wickets in clusters in the Asia Cup 2022 as an issue India need to address ahead of the T20 World Cup in Australia next month.
The Men in Blue were eliminated from the continental tournament in the Super 4 stage after defeats against Pakistan and Sri Lanka. They registered an emphatic win against Afghanistan in their last game but were already out of the race to qualify for the final going into that clash.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra reflected on some of the concerns for India based on their performance in the Asia Cup. Regarding their batting, he said:
"We can keep the Afghanistan match aside; we have lost wickets in clusters. When a wicket falls, one or two more wickets fall right after that. This has not happened once but every time, whenever the matches were stuck."
Chopra pointed out that Rohit Sharma's side suffered mini batting collapses in crunch games. The former India opener explained:
"You can see the first match against Pakistan, the second match against Pakistan or the Sri Lanka match. I will not talk about the Afghanistan match because we should not talk about that match, we shouldn't talk about the Hong Kong match as well. So we are losing wickets in clusters in important matches."
Sone excellent death bowling on display from Sri Lanka, led by Madushanka. India may still reach that 170-run mark but back-to-back failures from Hardik and Pant can be a potential headache for Team India. #AsiaCupT20 , #AsiaCup2022 , #AsiaCup
India lost the wickets of Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya in consecutive overs in the Super 4 game against Pakistan. They were restricted to 181/7 when they seemed comfortably placed to go past 200.
In the Super 4 game against Sri Lanka, the Men in Blue were in a strong position at 109/2 after 12 overs. However, they lost a flurry of wickets and ended up with a below-par score of 173/8.
"The bowlers are batting in the last two-three overs" - Aakash Chopra on India's batting collapses
Chopra highlighted that batting collapses lead to bowlers facing the key death overs. He elaborated:
"If we keep losing wickets in clusters, the bowlers are batting in the last two-three overs. Sometimes Bhuvi is batting; Ravi Bishnoi and Ravichandran Ashwin are batting at other times."
Chopra added that India are not making the best of their formidable batting lineup. The reputed commentator observed:
"We say batting is our strength, which is absolutely the case because (KL) Rahul, Rohit, (Virat) Kohli, SKY (Suryakumar Yadav), Hardik (Pandya), Pant/Dinesh Karthik - this is gun batting. But if it is gun, why there is no firing? It is not happening because you are losing wickets in clusters."
Chopra concluded by saying that addressing the issue doesn't require any personnel changes. He opined that the Indian team only need to tweak their batting approach slightly.