As good a line-up as India ever had: Ravi Shastri lauds India's T20I batting depth
Virat Kohli (PC: Twitter)
India will be heading into the T20 World Cup 2022 as one of the favourites to win the tournament.
Despite not living up to the expectations in the Asia Cup 2022, the Men in Blue have shown their quality against Australia and South Africa in recent weeks.
Furthermore, the scintillating form of key players like Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav will have given the team an immense morale boost.
Former Indian head coach Ravi Shastri seems quite upbeat about India's chances in the upcoming tournament and he has now come forward with a rather bold claim.
Shastri believes that the current Indian T20I batting lineup is as good as he has ever seen. He went on to lavish praise on the middle-order batters Surya, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik.
He added that a reliable set of batters down the order will allow the likes of Rohit Sharma and Kohli to play their natural game without taking on too much pressure.
As quoted by the official ICC website, the former Indian head coach said:
"I have been part of the system for the last six-seven years, first as a coach and now I am watching from the outside, and I think this is as good a line-up as India has ever had in T20 cricket.
"With Surya (Yadav) at No.4, Hardik (Pandya) at No.5 and Rishabh Pant or Dinesh Karthik at No.6 it makes a massive difference as it allows the top order to play the way they are playing."
Shastri has however warned India about their fielding frailties. He added that teams like Australia and South Africa are much better on that front and impeccable fielding could end up saving crucial runs for India.
 "Saikat Chatterjee")
