Wasim Jaffer, who played the opening role for India in the past, has indicated that Virat Kohli has not yet returned to his fluent best, which is a reason for worry when considering his performance in the Asia Cup. In addition, Jaffer said that India would have finished the game against Hong Kong with a score of 150 or 160 if Suryakumar Yadav had not played an aggressive knock at the tail end of the game.
The most recent match for India in the Asia Cup was a victory against Hong Kong by a score of 40 runs. During the match, India batted first, and because of Suryakumar Yadav’s fifty, they were able to reach a massive total. Although the Men in blue were able to produce a massive total of 192/2, many people were critical of the approach that the top three batters used because of their poor strike rate. In particular, criticism was directed towards KL Rahul for his innings, which had a strike rate of less than 100.
After the first ten overs of the match, the Indian side had scored just 70 runs against Hong Kong, but Suryakumar’s knock in the second half of the Indian batting innings turned the tide of the game. While Virat Kohli’s strike rate was hovering around one run per ball for most of the game, Rohit Sharma had already scored 21 runs after just facing 13 balls. Wasim Jaffer believes that Virat Kohli’s fluency is not yet at its full potential, despite the fact that Kohli had scored 59 runs off just 44 balls.
Wasim Jaffer shared his thoughts on the subject with ESPNcricinfo and said, “I am still worried about his fluency. His level of fluency is not yet where it needs to be. You are aware of what we have seen in the past. Even if he got runs, I don’t believe we are seeing that level of fluidity just yet. If India has any batsmen who are not scoring runs at a strike rate of 140 or 150 with Virat Kohli, then I believe the team is in peril.”
In addition to this, he said, “You’ve got to have someone who is striking significantly more, you know at a far greater strike rate than Virat Kohli. India would have finished with a score of 150 or 160 if Suryakumar Yadav hadn’t happened (against Hong Kong), and that would have been a risky total.”
On Sunday, India will compete against Pakistan in the match that is part of the super four, and they will anticipate that their top order will perform well.
