“West Indies had Alzarri Joseph coming in at No. 11” - Rahul Dravid admits lack of batting depth a major concern for India

Team India head coach Rahul Dravid has admitted that lack of depth in batting is a major area of concern for India in limited-overs matches. Pointing out the fact that West Indies had Alzarri Joseph batting at No. 11, he stated that India will need to show significant improvement in that aspect.

The Men in Blue went down to West Indies by eight wickets in the fifth T20I in Florida on Sunday. The Windies thus beat India in a bilateral T20I series for the first time since 2017.

Speaking at a press conference following India’s loss, Dravid played down the impact of the result on the team’s World Cup 2023 preparations. He, however, did open up on the team’s weak areas that were clearly exposed by the defeat.

“Not so much about the World Cup in India. I think our one-day team is really different to this one and squad that we had here. The squad that we had here, it didn’t allow us the flexibility in some ways to be able to change the combinations a little bit. I think going forward we need to look at certain areas where we can get better,” Dravid said.

Elaborating on the lack of depth in Team India’s batting, the former captain admitted that it’s one area they need to address seriously.

“Finding depth in our batting has been area that we are trying to address. We are trying to do best as we possibly can. That’s certainly an area where we can look at. How we can not weaken out bowling attack, but ensure that we can have certain amount of depth in batting," he added.

“As these games are going on and scores are becoming bigger and bigger, you can look at West Indies, they had Alzarri Joseph coming in at No. 11 and he can hit a mean ball. So, you have sides which have that depth. Obviously, we have got some challenges on that front. We need to work on that. Certainly that is something this series has shown us. We need to build on that depth,” Dravid continued.

India’s lack of depth in the batting department was evident in the decider as Arshdeep Singh came into bat at No. 8, followed by Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, and Mukesh Kumar.

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“We have a few guys coming back from injury” - Dravid hints India won’t experiment in Asia Cup against Nepal

With most of the big names rested for the Ireland T20Is, India’s next major assignment will be the Asia Cup. After taking on Pakistan in Pallekele on September 2, India's next game will be against Nepal.

Asked if the Men in Blue will look to experiment in the second match, Dravid replied:

“We have a few guys coming back from injury in any case, so we are going to have to give them opportunities to play. I haven’t really thought about the Asia Cup at this stage to be honest. We’ll have some time off. We have a camp in Bangalore from the 23rd, so we’ll be assembling as a one-day team there. We’ll take it as it comes."

The 2023 Asia Cup will be held in Sri Lanka and Pakistan from August 30 to September 17.