Ravichandran Ashwin weighs in on India’s batting concerns, provides solution for Rahul Dravid ahead of ODI World Cup 2023

India lost the 5-match T20I series against West Indies 3-2 and it is their first loss in a bilateral series against the Windies since 2006. The hosts won the first T20Is and took a 2-0 lead over the Men in Blue. However, before the series proceeded to Florida, India won the third T20 match and also won the 4th match as well in Florida, Guyana, by seven wickets. By winning the fifth game by eight wickets, the Windies went on to win the series.

India’s head coach and former legendary Indian cricketer Rahul Dravid was brutally trolled as fans raised questions about his coaching skills on social media. However, he also talked about the loss and said the team had only limited options due to which they failed to change the playing combination.

“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.” Dravid was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times.

You need someone like Shardul Thakur to come: Ravichandran Ashwin

Meanwhile, India’s veteran off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin tried to decode India’s problem of finding a perfect combination and said that they can play their star allrounder Shardul Thakur who can smash the balls and took crucial wickets as well.

“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,” Ashwin said on his YouTube Channel.