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Indian men's cricket team coach Rahul Dravid emphasises the requirement to enhance batting depth ahead of the all-important ICC World Cup 2023

Rahul Dravid, the head coach of the Indian men's cricket team, acknowledged the necessity of bolstering the team's batting depth, a facet of the game where India has yet to match up with other top cricketing nations. The deficiency in batting depth became evident during the recently concluded series against West Indies. Despite Dravid's announcement that the lineup for the T20I series differs significantly from the World Cup squad, the concerns regarding this aspect of the game remain largely unchanged.

In the fifth T20I, Arshdeep Singh, batting at No. 8 for India, had limited opportunities with the bat in international cricket and maintained an IPL strike rate of 67.57. Among the last four batters, Kuldeep Yadav, the most established, holds a T20I strike rate of 77.95, which is notably better than Yuzvendra Chahal, the No. 10, who scores at 46.15. These figures don't gain much more significance in the context of 50-over cricket either.

During the T20I series against West Indies, the lower order had to step up and contribute with the bat twice in five games. Except for a brief 7-ball 12 by Arshdeep Singh in the first match, there were no noteworthy contributions. This batting concern was similarly evident in the preceding ODI series, where the lower order was required to bat in the second ODI but couldn't make a significant impact.

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"Our squad (for the world cup) will be a little different to what we have here," Dravid said after India's loss in the fifth T20I, on Sunday. "In terms of the squad that we had here, it didn't allow us the flexibility to have the combination to allow us to make the changes. Going forward, we will have to look at certain areas where we can get better.

"Finding depth in our batting is an area that we are trying to address and do as best as we possibly can. But that's certainly an area that we need to look at, how we can not weaken our bowling attack but have a certain depth in our batting that can go deeper. As the game is going on, the scores are becoming bigger and bigger.

The West Indies tour, in all three formats didn't yield the desired outcomes for India, with missed opportunities being a prevalent theme. Dravid expressed disappointment in the ultimate results but indicated that valuable lessons were learnt throughout the tour.

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