Ravichandran Ashwin Calls India’s Batting Below Average Despite Win

Ravichandran Ashwin opined that India’s batting was below par despite an unbeaten run, noting room for improvement ahead of the Super 8s.

India completed the T20 World Cup league stage unbeaten with four wins, but Ravichandran Ashwin believes India’s batting unit has not reached full potential. In the final group match against the Netherlands, India posted 193/6 and fell short of the 200 mark after a slow middle phase. Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma struggled to accelerate, both scoring at strike rates below 125.

Ashwin noted that Suryakumar played a composed innings. He added that India’s depth allows finishers like Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya and Rinku Singh to recover the scoring rate.

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“Surya played a very diligent knock. For the acceleration point, Dube, Hardik, and Rinku were there. They knew they could catch up on the scoring rate. But India wasn’t extremely good today with the bat, not extremely efficient. But it is such a solid team that even on their ordinary day, they can put you away. They were below par, not at their best,” he said on ‘Ash ki Baat’.

Ashwin Not Satisfied With Tilak Varma’s Batting

Ravichandran Ashwin then analysed Tilak Varma’s batting style, noting that the left-hander depends on timing and placement rather than power. Returning from injury, Tilak focused on finding gaps. Ashwin stressed that success in T20 cricket does not rely only on big hitting and different approaches can be effective.

“Tilak Varma is coming back after an injury. We talk about power and strength but sweet spot and timing as the basic essence of batting. Tilak is not a big power hitter. For him timing and sweet spot are most important. Please remember you can play like Vaibhav but you can also play like Tilak, who relies on timing and picks the gaps,” he added.

India begins their Super 8 campaign on February 22 in Ahmedabad against South Africa. They then travel to Chennai to face Zimbabwe before ending in Kolkata against the West Indies.