Former England captain Nasser Hussain says that India’s selection in ICC tournaments has gone wrong. Hussain feels India didn’t have the firepower in the middle order when they had their back against the wall in the knockout match against New Zealand. In fact, there is no doubt that India’s national selectors had come up with some peculiar decisions.
The experienced players were not backed and surprisingly the young players who had played a handful of matches were selected in the World Cup squad. Ambati Rayudu was playing for almost 18 months before the World Cup but he was dropped on the basis of his meagre performance in the Indian Premier League 2019.
However, players like Vijay Shankar and Rishabh Pant were selected in the team, who didn’t have much experience under their belt.
India were also undecided on their number four batsman. The team found themselves behind eight-ball in the semi-final contest against New Zealand and thus they were kicked out of the World Cup.
India was heavily reliant on the shoulders of their top-order batsmen and as soon as Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma were dismissed, the team found itself on the backfoot. In fact, India’s middle-order also didn’t get to bat a lot in the World Cup as the top-order did the lion share of the scoring.
“I would say selection is where India have gone wrong over the ICC tournaments, adapting to conditions a little bit. So it’s not just about having one game plan,” Nasser Hussain told Star Sports’ ‘Cricket Connected’.
“Adapting to conditions, if it’s nibbling around (ball swinging) and if you are in a World Cup semi-final against New Zealand and it’s doing a little bit, where is your middle-order if you are 20 for 2 and Kohli and Sharma are out?” Hussain questioned.
Meanwhile, it should also be noted that India was not able to solve the middle-order woes for almost two years before the 2019 World Cup. Ambati Rayudu had done a decent job but surprisingly he was dropped from the World Cup squad.
There was also a lot of chop and change in the team’s combination and hence the deserving players didn’t get a longer run in the team. Consequently, the team had to pay the price in the all-important final against the Kiwis when their top-order crumbled like a pack of cards.
The team would aim to learn from its mistake and now the team has a better middle-order as Shreyas Iyer has grabbed his opportunity while batting at number four.
