Legendary India batter Sachin Tendulkar suggested that having a left-handed batsman in the line-up gives an advantage to the team as the opposition has to change their players and adjust fields at regular intervals. Tendulkar’s comments were related to the Indian batting line-up as they might play all right-handers in the top 6 for the T20 World Cup at least in the opening match against Pakistan.
The current plan suggested that India will play Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya and Dinesh Karthik as their top 6 as Rishabh Pant might sit out for the initial matches. Axar Patel might be picked as the second-choice spinner after Yuzvendra Chahal but having a left-hander at number 7 won’t create much impact.
While Tendulkar didn’t want to comment on team combinations, he does believe that a left-hander in the batting line-up gives the kind of variety every team craves.
“Left-handers without any doubt add in value and bowlers have to adjust, fielders have to adjust, and if they are able to rotate strike consistently, it is not something that the bowler enjoys,” Tendulkar told PTI.
“Look, I wouldn’t go by just (top) three. You always play as a unit and one should see what works well. You can’t go by top two or top three. As a unit, what you have is important and then to figure out whom to send at what position, and also check what is the opposition’s strength.”
The batting great suggested that the spinners will play a crucial role in Australia as stadiums in MCG, SCG, Adelaide and Perth have bigger side boundaries.
Tendulkar believes for any captain while picking his spinners in the first XI, the dimensions of the ground will be paramount.
“With the turn you end up playing more in the direction of the turn and there are only few batters, who have been able to hit consistently against the turn. Normally, captains look at the boundary dimensions and decide which bowler (off-spinner/leg spinner or left-arm spinner) should play. You also look at the direction in which the breeze is blowing before picking a spinner,” he added.
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The 49-year-old gave his insights on how the captain should choose his spinners according to the bigger side of boundaries.
“It also depends on bowling style and which areas one likes to attack. Whether it is more towards the batter’s body or outside the off-stump. Ideally, if you pick an off-spinner, you would want to introduce him from the end where the off-side boundary is shorter in case batter wants to hit against the spin,” he explained.
India don’t have the best record while defending the targets in recent times. Tendulkar suggested that the conditions sometimes changed the course of the game which is why Toss played a crucial role in the shortest format.
“I think sometimes it is also the conditions and defending totals has been a problem. Conditions do change during the course of the game and chasing does become easier. At certain venues, toss becomes important when you know dew is going to be a factor. Whatever the runs you score, once the ball starts getting wet and outfield gets wet, then you can still get out and score those extra runs than the side batting first,” he signed off.
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