Follow UsFormer India coach Ravi Shastri feels the team needs a first-choice all-rounder at number six, ruling out Hardik Pandya's inclusion as a pure batter in the T20 World Cup in Australia. Pandya has not been able to go full throttle with the ball since returning from surgery to treat an injured back.
With the upcoming T20 World Cup providing India an opportunity to make amends for their league-stage exit in the last edition of the showpiece in the UAE, the team management will be keenly looking at the IPL for players who can fit into the number six slot as an all-rounder and lend more balance to the XI.
"I think the allrounder's position at No. 6 for sure. Ideally, someone in the top-five who can bowl two or three overs. That takes the pressure off the captain. It gives him then six and a half bowlers from whom he can choose. That will be one area I'll be looking at very closely. And of course the fast bowling and fielding. I'm not really worried about the batting. Batting is there," Shastri told ESPNcricinfo.
Pandya was doing fine until he suffered a stress fracture of the back, and he hasn't been the same player ever since. Nevertheless, he has been made captain of an IPL team for the first time by Gujarat Titans. However, Shastri thinks Pandya will still struggle to break into the Indian T20 side as a pure batter because the team is already full of power-hitters.
"In the top five, there's a lot of muscle there. If anyone's occupying the position Nos. 5, 6 onwards, he'll have to bring that extra department to the game. That is why from Hardik's point of view, from India's point of view, from the Gujarat team's point of view, it's extremely important that he strings those two or three overs together because if he does and bowls with even limited success, he becomes an automatic choice in the Indian team."
Shastri also said that the forthcoming edition of IPL might also shed some light on who could be India's next skipper. "Rohit (Sharma)'s not getting any younger. Neither is Virat (Kohli). They'll have to look at who might be the captain two years, three years down the line. So that's where I'll be looking at. I'll be looking at Rishabh Pant (Delhi Capitals). I'll be looking at Shreyas Iyer (Kolkata Knight Riders). Very closely. Of course KL Rahul (Lucknow Super Giants), the way he handles that side. And Hardik for the simple reason if that can energise him in a manner that can make him come out and play with gay abandon."
Talking about Kohli, Shastri said: "I think (giving up captaincy) could be a blessing in disguise, to be honest. The pressures of captaincy off his shoulders, the expectations that come with being captain no longer there. He can go out, express himself, play freely, and I think he'll look to do just that.
"I think the most important thing is not worry about his own performances, because he's done enough in world cricket for people to know where he stands. It's about him wanting to enjoy himself out there. I think that is the key. It's mind over matter, it's a case of telling yourself, 'I want to go there, express myself, and enjoy myself.'"
Shastri feels it was smart of Kohli to give up captaincy but would have liked the 33-year-old to continue in Test cricket. "It's not easy to be captain of a team in all three formats of the game, more so India, because it's the most demanding job in the world. No other team captain faces the kind of pressure an Indian team captain faces, and that's simply because of the expectations of the billion people that we have - 1.4 billion.
"The expectations are huge, and especially as a captain when you've set standards like Virat Kohli has, then people expect you to win every game, and that's never good enough. Even with the greatest of teams you're going to have an off-season, there's going to be a period where nothing fires. The pressure will build. So I think he's done a smart decision of relinquishing captaincy. I would have still preferred him to stay in red-ball cricket, but that's his personal choice."
(With inputs from PTI)