Former Indian wicket-keeper batsman Deep Dasgupta wants Indian players to play impactful knocks in the Super 8 stage of the ongoing T20 World Cup. The former Bengal batter feels a cameo of 15-ball 25 is not a bad innings in T20 cricket.
Dasgupta noted that even if Rohit Sharma is not playing a big knock for the team, he has been giving impetus at the start of the innings with his attacking approach.
The former gloveman reckons it is imperative to make an impact at the start of the innings and make the most of the Powerplay conditions.
“We are talking about runs, which is important, but if you are opening and especially in this format, impact is important. You might score 30 runs but if those 30 runs come in 20 balls, that is more important than you scoring 50 runs off 45 balls. So impact is very important,” Deep Dasgupta said on Star Sports.
“These are matches and pitches where you will have to play such knocks. If you take Rohit’s example, he might not have scored big runs in the last one to one-and-a-half years, but he gives the momentum in every innings. 20-25 runs in 15 balls is not a bad innings. If he scores a fifty or a hundred, that is very good, but even if he contributes with a 15-ball 25, he has done a job,” the former India wicketkeeper-batter added.
On the other hand, Virat Kohli has managed only five runs in three matches of the World Cup. Dasgupta reckons Kohli is out of runs and he is not worried about him given his vast experience.
“I seriously believe form is irrelevant in T20s. If you don’t score runs in two matches, you don’t become a bad player, you are not out of form, you are out of runs, which Virat Kohli is. Considering Virat’s pedigree and all, I am not at all worried,” he said.
“He got out in the last match off the first ball and before that, watching the four or five balls he played, it didn’t seem like he is out of form. It didn’t seem like his bat was going in a different line and the ball was somewhere else, and someone like Virat, he will figure it out, there are no two views about that. So I am not at all concerned,” Dasgupta stated.
India will begin their Super 8 campaign against Afghanistan at the Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados on Thursday.
