Ashwin reacts after Dravid shows concern for India's batting depth, shares suggestion for CWC '23

India lost thelast match of the five-match T20I seriesagainst West Indies, in Florida, on Sunday (August 13) and conceded the series 2-3. This was India's first-ever bilateral series loss to the Windies, one comprisinga minimum of three games, since their 1-4 loss in 2006 during the five ODIs in the Caribbean island. After the series loss, head coach Rahul Dravid admitted to India's lack of batting depth as they batted only till No. 7.

After the final T20I, Dravid said, "I think in terms of our squad here, probably it didn't allow us the flexibility in some ways to be able to change the combinations a little bit. But I think going forward, we've got to look at certain areas in which we can get better. Finding depth in our batting has been an area we are trying to address. We are trying to do the best we possibly can but that's certainly an area we can look at, how we cannot weaken our bowling attack but ensure we have a certain amount of depth in batting."

While Dravid's concerns were regarding the current T20I team, veteran Indian spinner R Ashwin reacted to it and came up with an interesting suggestion for Rohit Sharma-led Team India ahead of the upcoming home ODI World Cup, in October-November.

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'You need someone like Shardul Thakur at No. 8'

Ashwin said on his YouTube channel, "You don't want your tail to start so early, and that's why you need someone like Shardul Thakur to come and smash a few balls at No. 8. But you should play your best batters and bowlers to win a match. At the same time, if you needed 36 to win from 30 balls when you are six down, you should have the ability to close down such games as well. So, that is the conundrum that India will go into ahead of the World Cup. If they play Kuldeep and Chahal together, then it gets to a situation where Kuldeep has to bat at No. 8."

At present, India's ODI setup is eagerly waiting to know the fitness status of KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer, two of their prominent middle-order batters, ahead of the Asia Cup 2023 and ODI WC at home. Currently, India have injury concerns with regard to the middle and lower order whereas they will also aim for more batting depth in the upcoming ICC event.

After the Windies tour, India is now gearing for three T20Is versus Ireland, in Dublin, before the focus shifts to the 50-over Asia Cup, starting on August 30 in Sri Lanka and Pakistan. It will serve as a dress rehearsal for the ODI WC.

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