“They need to play to left-arm pacers a little bit better- Nasser Hussain on Indian top order woes
India won the third ODI against England in Manchester and that capped off a very good tour of England for the Men In Blue. They won the ODI series 2-1 and also clinched the preceding T20I series 2-1. The Test series was drawn at 2-2. Meanwhile, former England skipper Nasser Hussain pointed out and emphasized on India’s recurring problem against the left-arm pace bowlers. Notably, the Men in Blue suffered a 100-run defeat in the second ODI, wherein Reece Topley took a six-for.
The 54-year-old said that India is a very strong team but needs to learn from the mistakes which were committed in the past. He reckons that India were very soft with the bat in the 20-20 World Cup in UAE last year. The former England skipper said that the top-order does not have to be circumspect when they have players Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant, and Ravindra Jadeja to follow.
“India is a very strong team, but they need to learn from what happened in the past. In the last T20 World Cup in the UAE, they were a bit timid with the bat, so they need to stop being that,” said Hussain after the third ODI on Sony Sports Network.
The former Essex player said that if India has to become a better side going forward then they have to work on addressing the recurring problem against left-arm quicks and find a way to work around it.
“When you have Pandya and Pant in the middle order and then Jadeja that rope to follow, you don’t need to be timid at the top,” said the former England skipper. “They need to play to left-arm (pacers) a little bit better. History tells you that Shaheen Shah Afridi blew them away one evening in Dubai.”
The Chennai-born added recalled the Indian top-order’s struggle against left-arm seamer Mohammad Amir in the 2017 Champions Trophy final at The Oval, where India lost its top three batters to Amir inside the first nine overs. He said that the left-arm pacers blew them away that afternoon on June 18, 2017. “And Reece Topley has blown them away here (at Old Trafford),” he said.
