Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma need Support from Middle Order: Krishnamachari Srikkanth

Birmingham: Former India opener Krishnamachari Srikkanth feels skipper Virat Kohli and opener Rohit Sharma need support from the middle order for the team to come good in the remaining matches of the World Cup after they lost to England by 31 runs in a marquee clash on Sunday.

“There are still some problems for India to fix, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma are the main run-getters at the moment and they need some support,” Srikkanth wrote in his column for the International Cricket Council.

“India are still going to qualify for the semifinals, it is just a question of when and in what position in the top four,” Krishnamachari Srikkanth added.

Srikanth (59) also praised pacers Jasprit Bumrah (1/44) and Mohammed Shami (5/69) and said: “Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami were both superb with the ball as well, but the spinners had an off-day, these things can happen.”

“Ben Stokes did a fantastic job at the death to add more runs to the total and Liam Plunkett was fantastic with the ball in those middle overs. I don’t think England will be leaving Plunkett out again in this tournament, he performs such an important job for them.

“But while Stokes and Plunkett were impressive, the real difference between the two sides was undoubtedly the way Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow went after the spin of Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal,” Srikkanth said.

“Roy’s return is clearly absolutely vital to this England team, not just for the runs he scores but in the way he sets an aggressive tone from the off for the rest of the batsmen to follow,” Srikkanth added.

“This is a very important win for England, they are in a do or die situation and to win this emphatically against such a strong India side will get them a massive confidence boost before they play New Zealand in their last game,” he said.

Srikkanth, who was an integral part of India’s 1983 World Cup winning team, further said that it was never going to be easy for India chasing the big total.

“For India, a chase of 338 was never an easy task, even if it was quite a flat wicket at Edgbaston. It could have been even higher if not for the mastery of Bumrah in his final five overs. But when (Rohit) Sharma and Kohli were going along nicely in the middle, they gave England a proper scare.

“Even when Hardik Pandya and Rishabh Pant, who I thought did very well in his first-ever World Cup game, were in that partnership the game was still in the balance,” said Krishnamachari Srikkanth, praising Pant who made his World Cup debut and scored 32 off 29 balls. IANS

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