Asia Cup 2023: 'Rohit and Virat could have used their feet better', Gavaskar on top-order failure

Former India batter Sunil Gavaskar was critical in his analysis of the Indian top-order’s poor show against Pakistan in the Asia Cup on Saturday, saying that both Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma could have played much better while Shreyas Iyer was unlucky to get dismissed for 14. India endured a top-order failure that restricted them to 66/4 at one stage. Rohit Sharma (11), Shubman Gill (10) and Virat Kohli (4) all performed below-par. Also read: Ishan Kishan shines in trial by fire, question marks over India's top order persist However, Ishan Kishan (82) and Hardik Pandya (87) ensured the Men in Blue don’t suffer a batting embarrassment as they stitched a 138-run stand to take India to 266. “Both the batters (Rohit and Virat) could’ve used their feet a bit better. Rohit Sharma had a big gap between his bat and pad. Shreyas Iyer was a bit unlucky. That was a cracking hook shot but it went straight to the fielder. If the fielder could’ve been 5 meters left or right, it would’ve been a boundary.” “Shubman Gill, for some strange reason, looked very subdued. Didn’t look as if he was playing his natural game, seemed to be in some of uncertainty around him. That’s why he didn’t open his account for a long time and hardly looked the Shubman Gill that we know,” Sunil Gavaskar said on India Today. Gavaskar felt that with a knock of 82, Kishan showed versatility so much so that he could bat anywhere down the order. Kishan has previously batted as an opener, number three batter and a number four batter in ODIs but Saturday was the first time he batted at number five. Also read: Ex-PCB head Najam Sethi slams ACC after IND vs PAK match is called off due to rain “Yes, I think what he showed was that an opening batter can bat anywhere down the order. It’s not easy the other way around, where a middle-order batter can come in and open the batting. “It’s not easy, but an opening batter can be accommodated anywhere down the order, and he brings a left-handed dimension to the Indian batting line. If you could look at the top four, they’re all right and then the left-hander comes in, so it makes it a little bit difficult for the bowlers. “Plus, he’s got this great ability to accelerate. He looks very, very small, but he packs a punch. He hit a couple of big sixes and the way he batted really was impressive because generally he likes to get after the bowling. But he was watchful when it was needed, recognized, realised what the situation was,” added Gavaskar. Gavaskar felt that Hardik was aware of the match situation and that had it not been for the century partnership, India would have been restricted to within 200. “There was, of course, Hardik Pandya at the other end who captained the Gujarat Titans. So he knows exactly you know what situation, how to adjust his game and he was guiding him. So that was a very, very good partnership. Without that partnership, India would have 175 or 200,” added the 74-year-old. The much-hyped match, however, was abandoned due to incessant rain in Pallekele, which meant the teams shared spoils with a point each. Pakistan, with three points, are through to the Super Fours, while India take on Nepal in their final group match on Monday.