New Delhi, Aug 8 (IANS): Former India batter Robin Uthappa believes that with the national side getting many quality players, they need to see the direction of their approach in the shortest format, especially with the Men’s T20 World Cup set to be played in West Indies and USA in less than a year now.
Ever since India won the inaugural 2007 Men’s T20 World Cup in South Africa, of which Uthappa was a member of the M.S. Dhoni-led squad, the side is yet to win the coveted trophy, despite the creation of the Indian Premier League (IPL) a year later.
Their next-best finish has been being runners-up in the 2014 edition of the tournament in Bangladesh, while their outdated brand of cricket in the 2022 Men’s T20 World Cup saw them crash out in the semifinal stage after being handed a ten-wicket thrashing by eventual champions England.
"If you look at it, we do have a platform of plenty. There are enough people to represent the country and the quality is very, very high. Sometimes when you have so many high-quality players, there can be a headache which other countries don’t have."
"It about how we decide to navigate through it as a team management and what is the approach the leadership group have and what will be critical to India’s success in the shortest format in the coming years?"
"They need to figure out which way they want to go because there’s so much quality in players coming through the ranks, that it becomes quite challenging to see who gets an opportunity," said Uthappa, an expert for JioCinema, in a select virtual media interaction.
Uthappa, who represented India in 13 T20Is and 46 ODIs, feels the new-look Hardik-Pandya led-side must address the issue of having a long tail starting from number eight, something which has come under the scanner in them being 2-0 behind in the ongoing five-game series against the West Indies.
"They have an issue to solve as far as lower middle-order is concerned as after number seven, we have a very long tail, which is an issue to be addressed immediately. Outside of it, our spin bowlers are world-class. Plus, our players have very little exposure to the conditions like the one in West Indies."
"So, a little patience needs to be exercised and make them understand how each wicket in every island plays, as India will be playing World Cup in West Indies and the USA next year. It’s a little bit of a tough spot to be in, but they need to trust the direction they are going in and back it 100%, which is what I feel."
Asked about the leadership of Pandya, who was criticised for not completing Yuzvendra Chahal’s quota of overs in the second T20I despite him taking two scalps in the 16th over, Uthappa voiced confidence in him learning from his mistakes to become a better leader in the future.
"To err is human. Errors are part and parcel of the game. He will be making some errors. I think even someone like M.S. Dhoni did make some errors; there were errors in his judgment at times as well when he led the country. It is normal and very human for that to happen, but Hardik Pandya is someone who looks at captaincy from a progressive point of view."
"So I think he will surely improve from the errors he makes. We got to allow him as a leader to actually go through that process of building himself. He has led only in IPL and as far as international cricket is concerned, it is going to be a little bit of a journey as we can't expect him to deliver every single time as a leader."