Rajendra Prasad Mohapatra

Team India has registered successive victories in contrasting fashions in the ongoing T20 World Cup Down Under. However, former captain Kapil Dev feels that loopholes were still visible in the Rohit Sharma-led side.

The Men in Blue began their T20 World Cup campaign with an inspired four-wicket victory over arch-rival Pakistan in Melbourne. The bowlers then stepped up in helping the team restrict Netherlands to 123 in the second game and scripted a comprehensive 56-run win.

The two victories have put Team India frontrunners to seal a semifinal spot. However, world Cup winning former captain Kapil Dev gave a stern warning to Rohit Sharma and Co about the loopholes within the team. As per Kapil, bowling is a real concern for the team without the services of injured Jasprit Bumrah.

Though Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Shami, Axar Patel and R Ashwin were all among the wicket-takers for India against Netherlands, the former all-rounder called for ‘proper planning’.

“The bowling has got better. I felt India could have scored more runs but in the last 10 overs, made up for it by scoring over 100 runs. See, the grounds are big and hence, the spinners gain a little bit of advantage. I would still say that in patches we are still lacking in bowling,” Kapil said.

“Against a team like Netherlands, you should have proper planning as to where to bowl in terms of line and length. The biggest thing is that in such matches, there should not be no-balls or wides because you are practicing and need to win the match as well. So overall, I would say, the bowling was good but still some loopholes were visible,” he added.

Kapil praised in-form Suryakumar Yadav, but desired to see KL Rahul back scoring runs for India.

“India would still want their skipper Rohit Sharma to be a little more compact, and want Rahul to score some runs,” Kapil said.
 

scrollToTop