T20 World Cup: "You haven't given any chance to the bowlers yet" - Zaheer Khan against making any changes to India's bowling lineup
Former pacer Zaheer Khan is against making any changes to India's bowling lineup for Wednesday's match against Afghanistan. He argued that the Indian batters haven't given anything to the bowlers to do their job in the T20 World Cup so they can't be blamed for the losses against Pakistan and New Zealand.
India were asked to bat first in both games and ended up with just par or sub-par scores of 151 and 110 which were easily chased down by their opponents. Speaking on the subject on Cricbuzz, Zaheer Khan also said the only rectifications needed for the Men in Blue are in their approach and the form of their batters.
Zaheer Khan said:
"I don't think they should make any changes simply because you haven't given any chance to the bowlers yet. If you had made that many runs and then bowlers hadn't done their job then it was understandable. But it hasn't gone to that situation yet. The two matches you have lost were because you couldn't make the required runs. I don't think there should be any discussion on that. All the changes are required in the approach. Most of the issues are form-based that we haven't seen the batting heft so far in this tournament."
Afghanistan will meet India at Abu Dhabi Cricket Stadium tomorrow 6:00 pm local time. Watch the big game, buy tickets and support AfghanAtalan. https://t.co/HNCPO7T5zR
Two consecutive defeats mean India's position in the tournament is dire at best. Virat Kohli's men now need to win their remaining three games against relatively weaker but exciting opponents and still depend on other results going their way to have a shot at reaching the semi-finals.
"There are two thought processes here and none of them is wrong" - Zaheer Khan on India's batting order issue
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While speaking about the change in India's batting order with regards to Rohit Sharma's batting position, Zaheer Khan pointed at two possible thought processes. He said India could either back their instincts by sticking with Ishan Kishan as the opener or go back to the proven method with Rohit and KL Rahul at the top.
Zaheer Khan added:
"You are in such a situation where you made one decision and spoke everywhere about how it was done after discussing with everyone and all that. So changing that after just one game will also be wrong... There are two thought processes here and none of them is wrong... If you are going back to Rohit Sharma that is also right. Because there you backed your instinct [to go with Ishan Kishan at the top], thought about the net run rate and now that it didn't work you are going back to the tried and tested method. Both thought processes are good. We'll get to know soon about the way the Indian team's think tank is seeing this."
The must-win encounter for both teams will kick off at 7:30 PM IST in Abu Dhabi.