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Former India World Cup winner Sandeep Patil expressed mixed reactions when he was asked about India's performance against the Afghanistan National Cricket Team in the recently concluded 3-match T20I series. India National Cricket Team won the series by 3-0, maintaining dominance from the beginning to the end of the contest.
While describing India's performance, the 70-year-old asked two young Indian openers, Abhishek Sharma and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, to work more on their batting. Patil noted that whenever these two batters played on subcontinental, batting-friendly surfaces in the past, he nailed it with their amazing batting skills. But they looked equally ineffective on pitches where the bowlers got some movement from the pitches.
Abhishek Sharma and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi struggled in overseas conditions
Patil's remarks have some significant ground, as in the recent past, both Abhishek and Vaibhav had to struggle for every run during India's tour in the United Kingdom and the series in Zimbabwe.
Abhishek Sharma scored only 191 runs in 10 innings at an average of 19.1, including one half-century. against Ireland, England and Zimbabwe.
On the other side, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, who made his T20 International debut at the age of only 15, scored 42 runs in three innings against England. But against Zimbabwe, he accumulated 151 runs in as many innings.
"But there is one thing I would like to say about their batting. Due respect to Abhishek Sharma and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, we have seen that when they travelled outside India and the ball started moving around a little, they faced some difficulties. These two young players will also have to pay attention to that aspect and work on it. Just because you are a lion at home in India, you shouldn’t become a cat when you go overseas," Sandeep Patil said, speaking on Cricket Next.
Sandeep Patil not surprised with batting stats
During the third T20I against Afghanistan on September 17, Abhishek Sharma smashed a blistering 30-ball century, the fastest against a Test-playing nation. Team India also got their highest powerplay score in the contest, reaching 100 runs.
While these numbers are looking exceptional on the cards, and fantastic to watch live from the ground, Sandeep Patil was actually not surprised by these records as he has enough idea about the credibility of the new-age batters.
I would say it’s remarkable: Sandeep Patil on Indian batting
Patil said in the interview that modern-day cricket has provided batters the licence to go all out against the opposing bowlers. Whether it is Abhishek Sharma or Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, they are doing the same: playing an ultra-aggressive brand of cricket.
"I wasn't surprised. Abhishek scored a century, and the Indian team scored 100 runs in six overs. I don’t know whether this is the first or last time it will happen, or when we’ll see it happen again. But you have to give them credit. You know, these young players in modern-day cricket have been given a license to kill, and they are using it absolutely the right way. Whether it’s Abhishek or Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, I would say it’s remarkable," the former Indian cricketer expressed in the same interview.
