Rohan Gavaskar believes that the Indian batting needs to revolve around India’s middle-order batter Suryakumar Yadav in the upcoming Asia Cup 2022 and then the upcoming T20 World Cup. However, the selectors have named a 15-member Indian squad for the Asia Cup to be played in the UAE from August 27 as well. The Indian team have a lot of batting options and the team management will have a tough task to finalize their top six.
During a discussion on the Sports 18 show ‘Sports Over the Top’, Saba Karim said that Team India will have to choose between Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik to make Suryakumar Yadav at No. 4. To that, Rohan Gavaskar shared: “You said you can slot Surya at No. 4. I disagree there, Surya doesn’t need to be slotted anywhere. I think this T20 team needs to revolve around Surya. You have got to figure out where is the best you can get out of him, is it at the top of the order, or No. 3 or No. 4, you put him there then.”
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Rohan Gavaskar further asked if he would select Rishabh Pant at No. 4 considering that his T20I record is not great. He replied: “There are certain slots in that batting order which might be non-negotiable in terms of Dinesh Karthik being a finisher towards the end, Rohit Sharma opening the batting. But everything else is up for grabs.”
However, the former player also added that other than probably Dinesh Karthik and Rohit Sharma, who have their fixed slots, the rest of the batters can be shuffled.
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“As I said, Suryakumar Yadav can open, cat bat at No. 3 or No. 4. Rishabh Pant can also be a floater depending on how many overs are left when wickets fall. In T20 cricket, it’s not so much about No. 3 or No. 4, it’s about how many overs are left and you send players accordingly out there. Where Rishabh Pant is concerned, he is a once-in-a-generation cricketer. It doesn’t matter if he is left-handed or right-handed, if you have got a player of that kind of match-winning ability, that kind of talent, you pick him, it’s a no-brainer,” Rohan Gavaskar concluded.
