‘Kohli, Rohit may sign off from T20s’: Ravi Shastri

TIL Desk Sports/ Former India head coach Ravi Shastri believes the current crop of Indian batters at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup is the best he has ever seen. ‘I’ve been part of the system for the last seven years as coach and now watching it from outside, this is the strongest batting line-up India has had, if you look at youth, experience, at players peaking in this format of the game,’ Shastri said during a media interaction at the Mumbai Press Club hosted by veteran sports journalist Ayaz Memon.

The India batting line-up looks more settled, with the recent emergence of Suryakumar Yadav and the re-introduction of veteran finisher Dinesh Karthik in the middle order. And despite the absence of pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah through injury, Shastri believes India’s batters can help the team qualify for the semi-finals this time around.’

This is as good a batting line-up as India ever had in T20 cricket; especially with Hardik Pandya at No 5, Dinesh Karthik or Rishabh Pant at No 6, it makes a massive difference. One area they will have to pick up and start from the beginning is fielding,’ Shastri said. Shastri pointed to the strong middle-order that allows the top-order trio Rohit Sharma, K L Rahul and Virat Kohli to play freely.