India kept their semi-final hopes alive with a strong win over Zimbabwe in Chennai at the T20 World Cup. However, former captain Anil Kumble and former South Africa skipper Faf du Plessis believe the team still has a few issues to fix. Both feel that India are yet to settle their roles and are still searching for a reliable sixth bowling option.
India will face the West Indies next on Sunday in a crucial match.
Concern over sixth bowler
India has relied on five main bowlers so far. Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakravarthy, Hardik Pandya, and Axar Patel have handled most of the work. The sixth option has mainly been Shivam Dube, with part-time support from Tilak Varma, Abhishek Sharma, and Rinku Singh.
Dube has taken five wickets but has conceded 124 runs in just over nine overs at an economy rate above 13. Kumble said that while India has tried to develop extra bowling options over the last 18 months, flat pitches in big matches can expose the sixth bowler.
He added that India may prefer the comfort of playing eight proper batters instead of seven batters and five specialist bowlers on such surfaces.
Du Plessis agreed. He said teams will target the weaker bowling option. He pointed out that most teams look to see who the main threat is, often Bumrah, and then try to attack the other bowlers. If the sixth bowler is forced to bowl in key overs, opposition batters may line him up.
Batting roles still unclear
India has also made several changes to their playing eleven. Against South Africa, Axar was replaced by Washington Sundar to add off-spin. In the Zimbabwe game, Sanju Samson was brought in to break the line of left-handed batters. Ishan Kishan was moved to number three, while Tilak Varma batted at number six and scored an unbeaten 44 off 16 balls in a big total of 256 for 4.
Du Plessis said that constant changes can affect role clarity. He noted that successful teams usually have a settled batting order. Kumble echoed the view, saying India’s long batting line-up has not always led to clear roles.
With a tough match against West Indies coming up, India will need to sort out these issues quickly if they want to move ahead in the tournament.
