ICC World Cup 2019 | Middle order batsmen need to show more intent, feels Sachin Tendulkar

India managed to pull off a hard-fought victory against continental rivals Afghanistan on Saturday in a low-scoring match. While the bowling was top notch by the Men in Blue as Mohammed Shami picked up the World Cup’s first hattrick, the batting by them was sub-par for large parts of the game. Though the pitch was not exactly batting friendly, one would expect a lineup of India’s calibre to at least score 250. However, they could only manage to put up 224 runs on the board.

While wickets kept tumbling regularly, it is interesting to note that there were quite some good partnerships in between and it was not the wickets but the slow run rate that ultimately restricted India to such a low score. Dhoni and Jadhav had a 57-run partnership for the fifth wicket but it came off 84 balls, something that did not please Sachin Tendulkar.

"I felt slightly disappointed, it could have been much better. I was also not happy with the partnership between Kedar and Dhoni, it was very slow. We batted 34 overs of spin bowling and scored 119 runs. This was one area where we didn't look comfortable at all. There was no positive intent,” stated Tendulkar, reported India Today.

India was at 135/4 when Virat Kohli fell victim to Mohammad Nabi in the 31st over. Spin bowling left the batsmen baffled for most parts as Dhoni ended up scoring 28 off 52 balls. Jadhav could also only score at a strike rate of 76.5.

"There were more than 2-3 dot balls. After Virat got out in the 38th over and till the 45th over we hadn't scored many runs. There were not enough outings for the middle order batsmen till now and that put pressure on them. But the intent could have been much better by the middle order batsmen," the legendary batsman was quoted saying.

While Dhoni and Jadhav settled, Indian fans were anticipating that they would step on the accelerator sooner or later but it never really happened. This was only the second time Jadhav had a chance to bat in the mega event having played 9 balls in the previous match, while Dhoni also has had to play only part-time cameos so far. Kedar Jadhav himself admitted in the post-match conference that they had fallen 20-30 runs short of their targeted score. 

"Kedar Jadhav was under pressure, he had not had an outing up until now. He needed someone to take charge of the situation early on but that did not happen. Both Kedar and Dhoni were not able to play at the required strike rate that they would have wanted. Those in-between overs could have been better and that is why Kedar was under a bit of pressure," Sachin Tendulkar signed off.