5 concerns Indian team management needs to address before the 20-20 World Cup 2022

After losing the first T20I of the three-match series against Australia, team India stormed back with a 6-wicket win in the second match on Friday. The final T20I is slated to be played on Sunday.

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Thereafter, India will have only three T20 internationals against South Africa before they take the flight to Australia to participate in the 20-20 World Cup 2022. While India has finalized their squad for the big-ticket event, there are still some holes that need filling.

So, here we’ll have a look at five concerns that Indian management needs to address ahead of the 20-20 World Cup 2022. Skipper Rohit Sharma and coach Rahul Dravid ought to take immediate notice of these issues and fix them asap.

The problem in Death overs

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Even after having an image of a crucial death bowler in the Indian T20 League, the Gujarat pacer Harshal Patel hasn’t had a favorable outing in the first of the three-match T20I series against Australia. He replaced the youngster Arshdeep Singh but failed miserably in the final overs when India was defending a target of 208 runs in the first match of the series.

Speaking of senior pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar, then he is struggling with form since the Asia Cup 2022 followed by a poor performance in the first match of the series against Australia. It has been seen in that the Indians mostly rely on the senior pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the death over for his excellence with the ball.

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Indian bowlers’ poor strings in the absence of Bumrah have emerged as a big concern. So, it is very important for the team that Harshal and Bhuvi should find their form again before the World Cup 2022.

Fielding

In the last couple of matches, the Indian side has failed to take some catches which happened to be very expensive for them. One example of this failure can be drawn from the infamous drop when Asif Ali lofted the ball towards young Indian pacer Arshdeep Singh. Eventually, Arshdeep couldn’t make it a break for the Indian team and it went on to cost the whole match for team India against arch-rivals Pakistan.

Following that, Indian fielding choked once again when they couldn’t defend the target of 200+ runs in the first T20I against the men in yellow. So, this might be the problem that can cause a big problem for India in the upcoming edition of the marquee tournament.

The selection of the third pacer

Senior pacer Jasprit Bumrah has always been the first choice of the management and he is set to make a straight entry to the final XI of the team during the World Cup matches. Along with Bhuvi, the senior lad from Meerut, Bhuvneshwar Kumar might be a good choice for India as he is quite impressive with the new ball in the powerplay overs. Senior leggie Yuzvendra Chahal might make a cut to the XI in the role of a specialist spinner. Other than him, Axar Patel and star all-rounder, Hardik Pandya can also add some contribution to the bowling.

But apart from this combination, the headache that the selectors might confront in the World Cup is to choose the third pacer between Harshal Patel and Arshdeep Singh. The duo of Rohit and Rahul needs to address and fix this concern before landing on Australian soil.

The Top-Order Conundrum

Since the Asia Cup 2022 has concluded, skipper Rohit Sharma hasn’t had many impressive outings with the bat. Speaking of his T20I performances in the calendar year of 2022, then he has played 18 matches to score the runs with a low average of 25.52. Apart from Rohit, senior opener KL Rahul has also struggled with the bat.

He could score only two half-centuries in his last couple of outings. On the other hand, former skipper and senior batter Virat Kohli couldn’t come stronger with the bat since his century against Afghanistan in India’s last super-4 match against Afghanistan.

Even after having a strong middle-order, the Indian team is still struggling to fix the conundrum they are facing in the top order. It is something that they need to fix on a priority basis if they want to outplay the teams like Australia, Pakistan, and England in the World Cup 2022.

Finding a perfect finisher

Having some handsome outings in the 2022 edition of the Indian T20 League, senior wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik made his comeback to the national team for the shortest format of the game. He also secured his slot in the team in the role of a finisher for the men in blue.

Whereas, young wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant’s brilliance to hold the game and cross the line for his team has benefitted India in a couple of matches.  But Pant is struggling with consistency as he couldn’t keep his good form with the bat continuously in the crucial matches for team India.