India will kick off their T20 World Cup campaign today with a match against Ireland, led by captain Rohit Sharma. Rohit Sharma indicated in a press conference yesterday that the team is considering fielding four all-rounders in their lineup. However, there are concerns that this strategy could backfire due to the effective spin attack expected on the New York pitch.
"If you want to create a good balance in a team, you need a lot of all-rounders. In fast-bowling all-rounders we have Hardik and Dube while Jadeja and Axar give us options in the spin department," said Rohit. "How to use these four across the tournament. We have thought about it and we will decide how to use them depending on the conditions. How to use these four players, that is our focus."
"We have seen how big a role all-rounders can play in T20 cricket. Not just in T20 cricket, but in all formats. Their role will be more than the rest of the players," he added. "It is important that we can use these four players well. As I said, I don’t know if we can play all four together. If we can, that will be good. If we cannot, even then we have to find our way."
In addition to Jadeja and Axar, wrist spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal are also part of India's potent bowling attack.
"When we played the game with Bangladesh, all three spinners bowled two overs. It wasn’t that easy to hit them. And in yesterday’s match (SA versus SL), the spinners also took wickets. No one knows the conditions," Rohit explained. "The spinners will take wickets or the seamers will take. So, we possibly… We have to find the best combination and see what will suit our team. How can we keep our batting lineup longer? How can we have more bowling options?"
Reflecting on the pitch conditions at Nassau County ground, Rohit noted the challenge of expecting high scores similar to those in the recent IPL matches.
"Certainly it doesn’t look like a place where you can score easily. So we’ve got to be a little mindful of that and see what best we can do," he said. "We are all coming off playing in IPL where a lot of runs were scored, so it’s important to have that balance, understand what is required here. It’s certainly not going to be an IPL kind of scores here, so we are very mindful of that and we just need to assess as quickly as possible and then bring your game into the picture."
