Former assistant coach of Team India Abhishek Nayar exposes some of the wrong calls made by the Suryakumar Yadav-led team against South Africa. Nayar explains why the batters failed in chasing. He also pointed out that the wrong step made the team management over the opening pair.
From the top part of the batting order to the lower end, there was only Shivam Dube who successfully extracted a notable amount of runs from the challenge wicket of the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
Against South Africa, India’s entire batting order collapsed
Ahead of the Super 8 phase, Team India was in top form, surpassing all barricades in the group stage set by the United States, Namibia, Pakistan, and Netharlands. Riding high on a pure team game, India got to win all of their group matches and qualified for the next stage of the 2026 T20 World Cup.
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On the night of February 22, the momentum was with the Men in Blue, but a wrong call can be enough to spoil the party. The first call made by the team management was to ask Ishan Kishan to take on the opening balls over Abhishek Sharma. Ishan Kishan was the in-form batter, but his opening partner, Abhishek Sharma, sustained three back-to-back ducks in the group stage.
The team management wanted to protect Abhishek Sharma
The management’s intention might have been to protect Abhishek Sharma and use Kishan as a safeguard. As soon as Aiden Markram, who is a part-time spinner, dismissed Kishan for a duck, things started to fall for the co-host of the tournament, Abhishek Nayar says. Abhishek Sharma also departed cheaply.
“It’s going to be a very uncomfortable discussion between Ishan Kishan and Abhishek as to who takes the strike because suddenly he has passed the baton of the zeroes (Abhishek Sharma) to Ishan Kishan, someone who was in prime form”, the experienced coach opines.
“But this is a problem for India. There is definitely going to be a discussion about how they can overcome an off-spinner bowling to them because, keep in mind, when they take on the West Indies as well, Roston Chase is going to bowl in the powerplay to them”, he further added.
Abhishek Nayar’s suggestion for the Indian batters
Whether it was Pakistan or South Africa, most of the teams target the Indian national cricket team’s opening pair with a spinner. Nayar gives a gentle reminder that the West Indies also have Roston Chase, who can do the damage with his spin bowling.
To avoid similar situations in the upcoming matches, which will be against Zimbabwe and, then with West Indies, the coach suggests that the batters rethink their approach against the spinners.
“So they will want to come back with better plans. With the newer ball, when you hit the seam at times as a finger spinner, you can get that extra bounce, and that’s the tricky part. If it’s slightly slower in the air, like we saw there, and the ball hits the seam and deviates even a bit, that’s enough in T20 cricket to get you out because it creates doubt and can earn you a wicket”, Nayar further stated.
