T20 World Cup 2021 | India should play with a leg-spinner against Scotland, says Sunil Gavaskar

T20 World Cup 2021 | India should play with a leg-spinner against Scotland, says Sunil Gavaskar

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Sunil Gavaskar belives that India should play with three spinners against Scotland

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Ahead of India's match against Scotland on Friday, November 5, Sunil Gavaskar has opined that India should play with a leg-spinner in the must-win game. He also added that India need to take care of their Net Run Rate (NRR) and so batsmen should play fearlessly and put on a high total on the board.

India didn’t had a good start to the T20 World Cup but they managed to register their first victory in the tournament against Afghanistan by 66 runs on Wednesday. India are now placed fourth in the points table of Super 12 Group 2. The Virat Kohli-led side have to win their remaining two matches and hope for New Zealand to lose one of their two matches to qualify for the semi-finals. 

The team selection has been severely criticised by many after the two massive defeats in the first two matches and Pakistan and New Zealand respectively. The batting collapsed against New Zealand and the bowlers were also looking ineffective. The lack of a sixth bowling option has also hurt the team.

Leg-spinner Rahul Chahar is the only spinner in the 15-man India squad to have not got a single game so far. Former Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar is of the opinion that the team selection will be important in the fixture against Scotland in Dubai - the venue where India have lost both their matches. He opined that India should play with three spinners and one of them should be a leg spinner. 

"Team selection will be the key, and because the Scots rarely get to play top-class spin bowling, it may be a good idea to go in with three spinners, one of whom should be a leg spinner. Not only are good leg spinners a rarity they are also invariably slower through the air and thus tough for the batter to use pace off the pitch,” he wrote in his column in Times of India.

"Often, when the ball is released above the eye line, the best of batsmen take a little time to read the length as their head has moved up a fraction instead of being still. So, a good leg spinner will always be able to get the wicket dot ball which is priceless in this form of the game.”

India batsmen should go for broke: Gavaskar 

Further, Gavaskar suggested the India batters to shed all their doubts and go berserk against the minnows who have impressed one and all in the last two weeks. India, who brought their NRR in the positive territory after beating Afghanistan, should continue to win in style to put pressure on New Zealand and Afghanistan, according to Gavaskar. 

“What India’s batsmen need also is to shed any inhibitions and literally go for broke, as the saying is. A big margin of victory improves the net run rate, and huge losses to Pakistan and New Zealand have hurt India’s net run rate. So, the necessity to win big. India must look to bat first like against Afghanistan and bat in a similar fashion. Another big win will put pressure on Afghanistan and New Zealand when they face each other on Sunday," he concluded.

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