T20 World Cup: 'Some loopholes were visible', Kapil Dev highlights Team India's areas of concern despite winning start

Legendary India cricketer Kapil Dev has said that loopholes were still visible in the Rohit Sharma-led Indian team, despite victories over Pakistan and Netherlands in the 2022 T20 World Cup Super 12 contest in Australia.

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India had begun their T20 World Cup campaign with an inspired four-wicket win over rivals Pakistan in Melbourne, before the bowlers stepped up in helping the Men in Blue restrict Netherlands to 123 in the second game, registering a 56-run win.

The two victories have put India frontrunners to seal a semi-final spot, but Kapil Dev seemed to give a stern warning to Rohit Sharma and Co about the loopholes within the team, especially as far as their bowling is concerned, and without the services of injured Jasprit Bumrah.

Against Netherlands, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Shami, Axar Patel and R Ashwin were all among the wicket-takers for India, but Kapil Dev called for ‘proper planning’.

“The bowling has gotten better. In batting, I felt India could have scored more runs but in the last 10 overs, made up for it by scoring over 100 runs. See, the grounds are big and hence, the spinners gain a little bit of advantage. I would still say that in patches we are still lacking in bowling,” Kapil was quoted as saying by ABP News.

“Against a team like Netherlands, you should have proper planning as to where to bowl in terms of line and length. The biggest thing is that in such matches, there should not be no-balls or wides because you are practicing and need to win the match as well. So overall, I would say, the bowling was good but still some loopholes were visible,” the 50-over World Cup-winning skipper added.

Kapil Dev hailed the in-form Suryakumar Yadav, but desired to see KL Rahul back scoring runs for India.

“Suryakumar Yadav has really grabbed his chances well in this team. To score runs so quickly, he should be praised more. India would still want their captain Rohit Sharma to be a little more compact, and want Rahul to score some runs,” Kapil said.

The 63-year-old called for Virat Kohli to play the anchor role. Kohli has so far registered scores of 82* and 62* against Pakistan and Netherlands respectively.

“Virat Kohli should play anchor because he can accelerate, but if he gets the chance to play through the entire 20 overs, this team can chase down any total. In the last 1-2 years, he was the player we were struggling to find – who is going to bat for us at No.4? There were players but not the kind of contenders we have found in Suryakumar,” Kapil explained.

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