Jayawardene questions Team India think-tank after top-order shuffle against NZ: 'You can't be flexible with top-3' | Cricket - Hindustan Times
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Jayawardene questions Team India think-tank after top-order shuffle against NZ: 'You can't be flexible with top-3'

By, New Delhi
Nov 02, 2021 04:22 PM IST

Former Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene was critical of Team India's decision to tweak with the top-3 against New Zealand during the T20 World Cup Super-12 game.

Team India conceded a heavy eight-wicket defeat to New Zealand as their 2021 T20 World Cup campaign is left in tatters. This was India's second-successive loss in the Super 12s as Virat Kohli and co. still search for their first victory of the campaign.

File Photo of Mahela Jayawardene(Twitter)
File Photo of Mahela Jayawardene(Twitter)

India made a batting-order tweak in the game against New Zealand, with Ishan Kishan opening for the side alongside KL Rahul. Rohit Sharma, the designated opener of the side, was sent at number three. The last time Rohit batted outside the opening order in the shortest format of the game was over a year ago, when he captained the side in the absence of Virat Kohli during a T20I in February.

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Former Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene, who is also the current coach of Indian Premier League franchise Mumbai Indians -- the side Rohit leads -- said that Team India shouldn't have made changes to the opening order.

"You can be flexible. But not with your top-three batters," Jayawardene said on ESPNcricinfo.

"I think most teams if you take, you don't have too much flexibility in that top three. They are settled. They are the ones who are going to give you that initial tempo, who are going to go about things. And then you have that guy at No. 3 who is going to glue things together and bat in both halves of the innings and the rest of the guys are the ones who will probably get floated in and around."

Jayawardene said that Rohit's role is that of an opener, and Kohli is "either an opener or a number three." The Indian captain batted at no.4 against New Zealand.

"That's his role he plays in T20 cricket and Virat Kohli is either an opener or No. 3. I think KL Rahul would have been able to play that No. 4 role because he has that ability to change and adapt," Jayawardene said.

"In an ideal scenario, if India had a good start and had a settled thing, even Rishabh Pant could have batted No. 4 - given they [New Zealand] had a left-arm spinner [Mitchell Santner] and a legspinner [Ish Sodhi], he would have got more license to then play knowing that he had two-three batters behind him.

"So rather than making all those changes they should have done just that subtle change - one in, one out - and then maybe one batter changing positions, rather than three batters changing their slots, would have made a bit more sense. Especially going against a very good New Zealand new-ball attack because it was always going to do a little bit in those three-four overs."

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