Stand-in head coach VVS Laxman on Thursday said India will be looking to pack the side with T20 specialists as it seeks course correction after yet another World Cup failure. England, who won their second T20 World Cup title in Australia on Sunday, have set the benchmark with their fearless brand of cricket. They bat till number 11 and in the final against Pakistan, they had as many as seven bowling options even in the absence of lead pacer Mark Wood.
Speaking to media ahead of the New Zealand limited overs tour, Laxman said multi-dimensional players are the need of the hour in T20 cricket. “In white ball cricket, you need specialist players and going forward, in T20 cricket, you will see a lot more T20 specialists. T20 cricket has shown us over the years that you need multi-dimensional cricketers,” said the current NCA chief ahead of the opening T20I on Friday.
“We have bowlers who can bat and batters who can bowl. More number of bowlers who can bat allows the team to have depth and batters to have freedom to go out and express themselves.
“I think that’s the need of hour and more and more teams will get that into their selection process and identify multi-dimensional players.” The next T20 World Cup is two years away but India will hit the reset button with the three games against New Zealand, followed by as many ODIs.
In the absence of Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya will lead the side against New Zealand and he is seen as the future captain of the T20 unit. Virat Kohli and K L Rahul are the other top-order batters who have been rested for the series.
“T20 cricket requires to play with a lot of freedom and clarity of thought and whatever time I have spent with these players and watch them grow in international cricket, that is their strength. It is important to play with that freedom but also you need to assess conditions and fulfill the needs of the team,” said Laxman.
