Madan Lal Conflicts Rohit Sharma ‘Weird’ Theory About India’s Batting Order

Former India player and selector Madan Lal does not agree with Rohit Sharma’s comments about India’s batting order for the Asia Cup. Rohit during the squad announcement of the Asia Cup said that the management wants every player to be ready to bat at different positions, as per the situation of the match.

“One thing I want in this team is to make sure everyone is okay to bat anywhere. That’s one thing we need to keep in mind. You need flexibility, guys who can step up at any position. No one should say, ‘I’m good at this position or I’m good at that position’. You want guys to be able to bat anywhere, that’s the message conveyed to every individual. Not now, but over the last three-four years,” Rohit had said.

Madam Lal, however, finds Rohit Sharma’s theory weird and said that the team should have a set batting order if they want to win the Asia Cup and World Cup. Madan Lal added that it is okay to shuffle the batting order here and there but largely players should bat at their specialist positions.

“You said, you have asked everyone that you can be asked to bat anywhere. I don’t agree. Specialist batters should bat in their preferred positions. If India want to win the Asia Cup and World Cup, they need good performances from No.4 to No.8. They are the ones who make the game while batting in the middle overs,” Lal told SportsTak.

Lal said that if the batting order is changed in every game, players will not be able to gain confidence. He said that players should know their role as batting in ODIs is different from T20 cricket, where every batter just needs to score quick runs.

“If you keep shuffling your batting order then no one will gain confidence. Yes, you can definitely change one or two guys depending on the match situation but every player should know their role and what they are required to do in order to score runs in that middle phase. This is not T20 where you just go and bat one away and hit your way out. Here, you have to build your innings. If your top-order starts well then your middle-order needs to carry that momentum to put up a good total and if the top-order fails then also if the players in the middle bat well you can get to a good total. So it’s a specialist position. I felt weird that the captain said anybody can bat anywhere,” he added.