"Team India's biggest concern is how to set a target batting first" - Saba Karim

Saba Karim believes Team India's biggest concern is their inability to set a daunting target while batting first in T20Is.

Virat Kohli's side have been on the receiving end in both matches where they batted first in the ongoing India-England T20I series. The hosts lost three wickets in the powerplay in both games as they struggled to post a fighting score.

During a discussion on India News, Saba Karim pinpointed Team India's inability to post a sizeable score on the board when setting a target as their biggest concern at the moment.

"Team India's biggest concern before the series and even after playing the first three matches is also the same, it is how to set a target batting first. There have been so many matches in the recent past where India has batted first and failed to post a score above 180-190 runs," said Karim.

The former Indian cricketer reckons the Men in Blue have failed to read the wickets and figure out par scores when asked to bat first.

"It shows that the clarity and understanding of the wickets, what is the target that needs to be set on a particular wicket and what should be the par score, Team India is still looking to find that out and that has been a big concern for the Indian team," added Karim.

Team India have a fifty percent win record in T20Is while batting first under Virat Kohli's captaincy, having won and lost 11 encounters each. However, they did emerge victorious in the two matches that went to a Super Over against New Zealand.

India won only 12 of their last 20 matches while batting first in T20I cricket (including Super Over wins).As many as 11 of those 12 wins feature a 50+ score from Rohit Sharma (1 100, 6 50s) or KL Rahul (5 50s). #INDvENG

— Sampath Bandarupalli (@SampathStats) March 16, 2021

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"Team India can only improve from here" - Saba Karim

Team India has tried Ishan Kishan at the top of the order to accelerate the scoring rate

Saba Karim sounded confident about Team India addressing the issue with a concerted effort in the last two T20Is.

"The good thing is that India has made up their mind to address this and you can only improve from here. So this is a good opportunity for India that whenever they get the chance to bat first, they should go into the ground with the right combination and approach and then only you will find it easy to resolve this issue," said Karim.

The former selector concluded by stating that Team India should use the final two matches of the series to iron out this particular problem, keeping the T20 World Cup in mind.

"The biggest objective is the World Cup. So in my opinion, it is very important that India tries to learn how to set a target in the coming two matches," signed off Saba Karim.

Virat Kohli has mentioned that Team India are looking to be more aggressive in their batting while setting a target. However, that approach seems to have backfired to a certain extent with the Men in Blue losing a plethora of wickets at the start of their innings.

KL Rahul's dismal form at the top of the order has also proved to be a bottleneck for Team India. It will be interesting to see if they persist with him for the last two T20Is or open with Ishan Kishan and bring back Suryakumar Yadav in the middle-order.

Since Ind is unlikely to field 5 bowlers, how about opening with Rohit-Ishan...Kohli at 3. And Rahul at 4? Dhoni had also pushed Kohli down the order vs WI after that nightmarish tour to Eng in 2014. Sometimes a little change is all you need to regain form. My two cents. #INDvENG

— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) March 18, 2021