Former cricketer Deep Dasgupta spoke about the changes that have come to India’s T20I setup and also shed light on the form of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.
Deep Dasgupta made these comments in light of Rohit Sharma’s India taking on Jos Buttler’s England in the second semi-final of the ICC T20 World Cup 2024. This match will be a replay of one of the SFs of the T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia, where the English contingent had defeated the Men in Blue by 10 wickets.
England then clinched their second World T20 title by beating Pakistan in the final by 5 wickets at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground. If they want to win the trophy again, the Three Lions will have to beat an in-form Indian team, who are unbeaten in the tournament after the Group and Super 8 stages.
Rohit Sharma’s side are coming off a sensational 24-run win over Mitchell Marsh’s Australian side in their last Super 8 match. With that win, they not only eliminated the Australians from the competition but also restored their position as one of the favourites to clinch the 2024 ICC T20 World Cup in Barbados.
Despite India’s journey to the final, there is still one puzzle missing from the team and that is none other than Virat Kohli. The right-handed batsman is yet to reach his best form and probably only has 2 games left in the World Cup to make changes. Kohli only has a chance to turn things around in the semi-final because, in the final, his luck might not favor him.
Ahead of tonight’s all-important match, Deep Dasgupta has expressed his thoughts on this Indian team.
Deep Dasgupta happy with changes in India’s T20 setup
While speaking to ESPNcricinfo yesterday, Deep Dasgupta stated that he considers this Indian team to be a different T20I team than a year ago. Dasgupta said the Indians no longer expect their top order to click every game, something that has helped the team immensely.
“The setup of this Indian team has changed. If you look, say a year ago, the focus would always be on how much the top three are contributing. But this Indian team, it seems like they are not thinking about that.” It’s like we have 8 batsmen, let’s see what all 8 batsmen can do and not just the top three.” – Dasgupta told ESPNcricinfo.
Dasgupta says it is good for Indian team not to depend solely on Virat Kohli
Deep Dasgupta went on to state that less dependence on Virat Kohli is a good thing for the Indian team. Dasgupta then spoke about Kohli’s form. He said that the batsman, despite scoring only 66 runs in 6 matches, is trying his best to continue doing the basics well and stated that the match against Australia and Bangladesh is a positive sign for him.
