“If I were the coach, I would make a rule” – Irfan Pathan wants India’s specialist batters to bowl in 2024 T20 World Cup
Former India cricketer Irfan Pathan has said that he wants the specialist India batters to practice in the nets and bowl a few overs if required at the T20 World Cup.
Irfan pointed out that India had more all-rounders like Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, and Suresh Raina, who delivered for the Men in Blue at the 2007 T20 World Cup and the 2011 ODI World Cup, respectively.
Pathan told Star Sports:
“If I were the coach, I would make a rule that if you are a batsman, you have to bat and if we need side-arm, you can’t go without bowling. Otherwise, you won’t get side-arm batting.”
The 39-year-old said that he would’ve made amendments if he was India’s coach to strengthen the bowling unit like 2021 winners Australia and defending champions England.
“Pure batters don’t bowl at all, not Rohit Sharma, not Virat Kohli and not even Suryakumar Yadav are able to bowl," he continued. "So, that is where we get a little handicapped. Ideally, if one of them bowls, it will benefit the team combination.
"If you take the example of England, Livingstone, Moeen Ali, and Will Jacks are bowling. They are bowling decent after four or five frontline bowlers.”
“This problem can be solved” – Irfan Pathan suggests two bowling combinations for India at T20 World Cup
Irfan Pathan also suggested two bowling combinations for India at the T20 World Cup. He reckons that Axar Patel can be used in the six bowlers lineup, while Shivam Dube and Hardik Pandya can bowl alongside four frontline bowlers. The cricketer-turned-commentator said:
“We can make two combinations. Six bowlers where you can play Axar Patel. Another option is where you have four front-line bowlers where you can hope that Shivam Dube and Hardik Pandya will bowl.”
Pathan added that Yashasvi Jaiswal can bowl one over to complete Hardik Pandya’s quota of four overs if he plays in the XI. He said:
“There is one more player if you play, Yashasvi Jaiswal is regularly bowling in the nets, but he’s yet to bowl in the match. So, you don’t know what you’ll get. You can expect him to bowl at least one over in the T20 World Cup. If he bowls one over and Hardik Pandya bowls at least three overs, then this problem can be solved to a good extent.”
“In the USA, you can afford to have one extra seamer, but when you go to the West Indies, you can have three spinners in your playing XI, two fast bowlers plus all-rounders. You can have that combination.”
Similarly, Irfan Pathan suggested two different batting lineups with Rishabh Pant and Sanju Samson. He concluded:
“The good thing about this squad is you can have one squad where Rishabh Pant is ideal in the starting XI and obviously, he’s gonna be batting down the order. And then, you have Sanju Samson in the XI, but he has to bat up the order.”
Rishabh Pant has seemingly become the first-choice wicketkeeper following his exploits against Bangladesh in the warmup game. In his comeback game. the left-hander smashed an unbeaten 53 runs off 32 balls, including four sixes and as many boundaries.
India will begin their T20 World Cup campaign against Ireland in New York on June 5.