India Doesn’t Have too Many All-Rounders in Top-Six, Says Outgoing Coach Ravi Shastri

"I think it always helps when you have one or two players in the top order who can bowl,''- Ravi Shastri.

Dubai, Nov 9: Ravi Shastri ended his coaching tenure on a high note as India defeated Namibia by 9 wickets in their last Super 12 encounter of the T20 World Cup 2021 on Monday. Shastri believes that the Men in Blue lack few all-rounders who can roll their arm to give some stability in the bowling department.

Hardik Pandya didn’t have the best of World Cups as he was recovering from an injury and only managed to bowl a total of four overs in the entire tournament. As a result he was also unimpressive with the bat as well.

The overreliance on Pandya’s ‘all-round’ ability was one of the reasons for India’s debacle here and Shastri said that going forward it would help Team India to have a couple of players in the top order who “can bowl as well”.

Asked if he saw a space in the team for a few all-rounders after Pandya’s flop show, Shastri said, “I think it always helps when you have one or two players in the top order who can bowl. We’ve always had that in the past.”

Shastri said that it was unfortunate the team didn’t have “one or two players in the top order who can bowl” as well.

“Unfortunately, we don’t have too many now. So that might be the way to go, to ensure that in the top six you have a couple of guys who can roll their arm over. Even if it’s four overs between them, that will help,” said Shastri.

(With Inputs From IANS)