India were defeated by New Zealand by 80 runs in the opening T20I of the three-match series at the Westpac Stadium in Wellington. The 80-run loss was India’s worst in the T20Is as the Rohit Sharma-led Men in Blue faltered mid-way while chasing the 220-run target. Team India was bundled out for 139 as the Kiwi bowlers wreaked havoc to find redemption after the 4-1 demolition in the recently concluded ODI series. Now, former Indian skipper Sunil Gavaskar has said that he won’t be disappointed even if India lose the ongoing T20I series.
“India need a mix of both [experiment for the World Cup and focus on winning series in New Zealand]. The World Cup is just a few months away. To arrive on a final squad, there needs to be a few experiments. In this T20I series, you could get an idea of who the team can look at [for the World Cup]. The likes of Vijay Shankar can be observed. Even in T20Is, you can figure out if the players will be suited for the 50-over format or not,” Gavaskar told Sports Tak.
“Yes, you need to win matches in New Zealand. But the T20 World Cup is far away, it’s in October 2020. I won’t be very disappointed even if India lose this T20I series. If the performances are good, then there’s no problem. The team is right now focused on the World Cup. Thus it’s important that chances are given to players like Vijay Shankar, Rishabh Pant and Krunal Pandya. The way they handle pressure here will give the team an idea of whether they are ready for the World Cup or not,” Gavaskar added.
Gavaskar, opining on the subject, said that the team needs more flexibility in the batting order and cited the example of Champions Trophy defeat against Pakistan, where Rohit was dismissed early and Virat Kohli struggled against the moving ball.
“There needs to be flexibility. More the flexibility in the batting line-up, more beneficial to the team. Let’s look at what happened in the Champions Trophy final. Rohit Sharma was dismissed by Mohammed Aamir early. When Virat Kohli came out to bat, the ball was swinging quite a bit. Pakistan were pumped up after having put 300 on the board,” Gavaskar told.
Meanwhile, the Men in Blue would look to comeback in the series when they take the field at the Eden Park in Auckland for the second T20I on Friday.
