IND vs BAN: Have Shreyas Iyer And Ravichandran Ashwin Taken The Responsibility To Bail Out Team India Every Time?

IND vs BAN: Have Shreyas Iyer And Ravichandran Ashwin Taken The Responsibility To Bail Out Team India Every Time? Wasim Jaffer, a former batsman for the India National Cricket Team, voiced dissatisfaction with the recent top-order performance and claimed that middle-order batsmen Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant have saved India “far too many times” in Test matches.

At the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka, the India National Cricket Team defeated the Bangladesh National Cricket Team by three wickets in the second Test to complete a 2-0 sweep of the hosts.

Shubman Gill, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, and Virat Kohli, India’s top 4, struggled in the second Test match as India was reduced to 94/4 in the first innings and significantly worse in the second innings when chasing 145 as India was reduced to 37/4.

Ravichandran Ashwin and Shreyas Iyer — Ravichandran Ashwin and Iyer (Image Credits: Twitter)

Iyer and Pant helped India come back in the first inning, then with the help of Ravichandran Ashwin, Iyer led India to victory in the second inning.

Wasim Jaffer was questioned about India’s top-order struggles and whether Shreyas Iyer has developed into an irreplaceable member of the team during an interview on ESPNcricinfo. Jaffer answered:

“He has only played a handful of Test matches and I think every time he has come in to bat India is under pressure. Him and Ravindra Jadeja and Rishabh Pant, he has played some amazing knocks as well. That has happened quite a few times. Shreyas and Rishabh Pant have especially bailed them out far too many times and that’s a concern going forward.

“I don’t remember the last time India was 200/2. In the recent past, I don’t remember out of the top 4, two of them have got a hundred and put India to 200/2 or 180/2. So that is something I think India need to work on.”

I thought they were probably the negative out of this series – Wasim Jaffer on KL Rahul and Virat Kohli

Wasim Jaffer criticised India further for their conservative batting style as they attempted to reach a modest 145-run mark. He was particularly dissatisfied with the attitude of rookie opener Shubman Gill. Both KL Rahul and Virat Kohli, according to Jaffer, had rather unremarkable Test serieses, and they were cited as India’s weaknesses.

The batting display of Axar Patel, who scored 34 runs while batting at No. 4 in the final innings, however, really delighted the ex-Indian player.

“The approach I thought, they came out to bat in the second innings I thought was pretty defensive. I thought they’ll come out, especially Shubman, I thought he’ll come out with the attacking mindset because he is the guy who generally plays that way. All the other guys as well, even KL had a very ordinary series so is Virat Kohli. I thought they were probably the negative out of this series.

“But the approach that they came out with since we’ve seen England, how England have played cricket recently, they come out attacking. When you chase such a small total, when you put yourself 30-40 runs straightaway, put pressure on the bowlers, then the remaining runs come really easy, but it didn’t happen. So I was disappointed with that and I think Ashwin and Iyer bailed them out and I thought Axar played a fantastic knock as well, his 34 were such crucial runs, I thought it was a smart move to send him at No.4.”