‘If this goes…’: Former India cricketer issues big WARNING to Suryakumar and Gambhir

Former India cricketer Robin Uthappa cautions Suryakumar Yadav and Gautam Gambhir ahead of the T20 World Cup at home.

In the white-ball format, the Indian team has been quite adaptable with its batting order. Head coach Gautam Gambhir has even gone so far as to claim that batting orders in the white-ball cricket are overrated. However, legendary Indian cricketer Robin Uthappa has cautioned captain Suryakumar Yadav and the coach that if things go wrong, the approach could backfire.

“If this goes south, it’ll backfire on both Surya and Gautam Gambhir. And people are anyway gunning for his (Gambhir )head. You can’t go into a World Cup as the defending champions with your main batters not in good form. In the first T20I, Hardik saved the skins out of India’s innings. If it wasn’t for him, we would have been 30-40 runs off that total and that’s a 130. Those things concern me,” Uthappa said on his YouTube channel.

“Today it’s not affecting him because India is winning matches. He’s one of the most successful Indian captain right now with an 85 win percentage. But if that drops over the next nine games, then it starts impacting his batting and it starts impacting how he leads on the field as well. India is leading into a World Cup at home where you want to have your main batters in really good form, especially when you are defending champions,” he said.

Former South Africa captain AB de Villiers said he agrees “to a certain extent” with India head coach Gautam Gambhir’s belief that ODI batting orders are “overrated”, but stressed the need for teams to balance flexibility with clearly defined roles.

“I do agree with him to a certain extent. I’ve always enjoyed a floating batting lineup in ODIs. But it’s a fine line because you can’t really play around too much with the players’ roles,” De Villiers said on his YouTube channel.

“It’s the top three, four to six, and then your tailenders who can hold the bat. It’s almost like three segments, and you can really be creative with that.

“Play with right and left-hand combinations and certain situations of the game.” India won the first T20I against South Africa to extend their winning run to 27 victories out of 31 games.

( Inputs from PTI )

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