Ravi Shastri wants Shikhar Dhawan and VVS Laxman to reconsider their plan for 2nd ODI

Former India head coach Ravi Shastri has highlighted the key reason why the Men in Blue lost the first ODI against New Zealand. Shastri, while commentating on Prime Video, believes that India went with a bowler short in their playing XI, which eventually cost them the game. When asked if he would have gone with a sixth bowling option, he said the Indian team should seriously consider that in the second ODI. 

Shastri's observation came when he was answering a question from former India cricketer Anjum Chopra. “In hindsight, now that the game is over, when you look back at the start of the match, you look at the team from both the side, would you have had another bowler, a sixth-bowling option, in this Indian line-up?," Chopra asked Shastri, to which the 60-year-old replied, "I think seriously they will have to think of it. They will have to think of it.”

Shastri wants India to play with 6 bowling options

Shastri said the Indian team management will have to consider adding a sixth-bowling option in their lineup for the second ODI. He said they will have to seriously think of it in the do-or-die match for India on Sunday. It is not just Shastri and Chopra but many experts believe that India missed the trick in the first ODI by just playing five bowlers. Meanwhile, two of those five bowlers were debutants in the form of Arshdeep Singh and Umran Malik. 

India lost the first ODI match by 7 wickets as New Zealand chased down a 307-run target with ease. Indian bowlers failed to prevent the Kiwis from reaching the target. Apart from Malik and Shardul Thakur, none of the bowlers were able to pick even a single wicket for India. While Thakur picked one wicket, Malik scalped two to his Shreyas Iyer all scored a half-century each. Kane Williamson and Tom Latham then forged an unbeaten partnership of 221 runs to help the Blackcaps chase down the total. 

Image: PTI/BCCI