Shruti Suman
Expressing dissatisfaction with his team’s batting performance, Indian captain Hardik Pandya remarked on Sunday that the batsmen need to take more responsibility moving forward. India’s batting continued to disappoint as they could only muster 152/7 in the second T20I against the West Indies, a match the hosts won by two wickets. This total was only slightly better than the 145/9 they achieved in the first game.
“To be frank, that batting performance was not at all satisfactory. We lost wickets and the pitch was slow. We could have batted more effectively. A score of 160 or 170 plus would have been a good target,” stated Hardik during the post-match presentation.
Speaking about the team’s current situation in the five-match series, where India trails 0-2, Pandya expressed concern over the lack of runs from players like Shubman Gill, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, and Sanju Samson.
“With the current lineup we have, we need to have faith in our top seven batsmen to deliver, and we hope our bowlers can secure victories. We must find ways to strike the right balance, but it’s crucial that our batsmen step up.”
Tilak Varma, making his debut in this series, has displayed comfort at the crease and contributed significantly to India’s runs.
“We are closely observing his batting performance. Having a left-handed batter at No. 4 provides a beneficial right-left combination. The young players are displaying confidence and fearlessness.”
“It’s a favorable position to be in. Hopefully, we can continue our winning streak. We were always aware that our success would hinge on our performance against spin. This goes to show that cricket is a game of unpredictable outcomes.”
Regarding his strategy of rotating bowlers throughout the innings, Pandya explained, “I noticed that when batters attack the bowlers, they tend to do so after the first over. To address this, I decided to assign one-over spells to my bowlers, especially the fast bowlers, given the hot conditions.”
Prateeksha Thakur
Khushi Sikarwar
