'Batting unit needs to show more responsibility': Gavaskar after 4th T20I loss

Sunil Gavaskar

Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar has urged Indian batters to take greater responsibility while chasing targets after their 24-run defeat to the West Indies in the fourth T20 International in Hyderabad on Wednesday.India failed to chase West Indies’ huge total of 247 for three, despite Sanju Samson’s quickfire 56 off 23 balls. Keemo Paul picked up five wickets to bowl India out for 223, forcing the five-match series into a decider in Bengaluru.

“The first thing this Indian side needs to improve is how they chase. The batting unit needs to show more responsibility. If the batters don’t take responsibility, this Indian side will not succeed,” Gavaskar told JioStar.He also felt India failed to make the most of the batting-friendly conditions, especially with dew helping the batters.

Gavaskar questions India’s batting approach

Gavaskar said India should have built on the strong start provided by Samson, but the other batters failed to deliver.“Sanju gave India a great start, but the rest of the batters didn’t capitalise at all. Abhishek Sharma played a poor knock, which is not acceptable by his standards.“Ishan Kishan fell right into Keemo Paul’s trap, and Shreyas Iyer has not got going since his hundred,” he said.

However, the former captain defended India’s inexperienced bowlers, saying they needed time to learn at the international level despite conceding a big score.“Yes, I know the bowling has been poor, but these bowlers are not experienced. They are new to international cricket, and they will need to get hit for boundaries, otherwise they will not learn,” he said.

Pujara praises Shai Hope’s batting

Former India batter Cheteshwar Pujara praised West Indies captain Shai Hope, whose second century of the series helped his team post a massive total.“Hope has been a problem for India in this white-ball series and what stands out is that he does not rely on blind slogging. He backs his natural game and picks his gaps. That is why he scores so quickly without taking too many risks.“He's also a good player of spin because this pitch was a little challenging for the batters to dominate the spinners.“But he had a lot of clarity. When a batter has that kind of control, it becomes very difficult for the bowlers to build pressure,” said Pujara.