ICC World Cup 2023: Ravichandran Ashwin Opines On India's Batting Depth With Rahul Dravid Concerned

Ace Indian spinner has backed under-fire Indian coach Rahul Dravid to find the best playing combination for Asia Cup and ICC World Cup 2023 after their recent T20I series loss against West Indies. This was India’s first bilateral series loss to West Indies since 2006.

With the series against West Indies lost, Rahul Dravid as a coach is now focused on getting the best possible combination for the Asia Cup and World Cup. The two tournaments will be Dravid’s litmus Test to prolong his coaching career.

Speaking at the post-match press conference after India’s T20I series loss to West Indies, Dravid said that the absence of a few key batters did not allow them to play with the best combination and flexibility. In the absence of Ravindra Jadeja and Shardul Thakur in the T20I series, India did not have an all-rounder at number eight and their batting was limited to seven.

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Our Current Squad Didn’t Allow Us The Flexibility: Rahul Dravid

“I think in terms of our squad here, probably it didn’t allow us the flexibility in some ways to be able to change the combinations a little bit. But I think going forward, we’ve got to look at certain areas in which we can get better. Finding depth in our batting has been an area we are trying to address. We are trying to do the best we possibly can but that’s certainly an area we can look at, how we cannot weaken our bowling attack but ensure we have a certain amount of depth in batting” he said after the final T20I.

If the likes of KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer are back for the Asia Cup and World Cup, India’s middle-order conundrum will be sorted with Virat Kohli batting at three, Iyer at four, Rahul at five followed by Hardik and Jadeja at six and seven. Someone like Shardul Rhakur can then bat at number eight in the lineup adding depth to the batting order.

You Need Someone Like Shardul Thakur At Number Eight: Ravichandran Ashwin

Ravichandran Ashwin while addressing the issue on his Youtube channel backed Thakur to bat at number eight for India. However, he said that playing Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal together might be a problem.

“You don’t want your tail to start so early, and that’s why you need someone like Shardul Thakur to come and smash a few balls coming in at No. 8. But you should play your best batters and bowlers to win a match. At the same time, if you needed 36 to win from 30 balls when you are six down, you should have the ability to close down such games as well. So, that is the conundrum that India will go into ahead of the World Cup. If they play Kuldeep and Chahal together, then it gets to a situation where Kuldeep has to bat at No. 8,” he said.

India will play a three-match T20I series against Ireland before venturing into the Asia Cup 2023 starting on August 30.

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