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News India Live, Digital Desk: Cricket is a game of statistics and records. In every match some new record is made and broken. But there are some records which are made once in years or decades and are recorded in history forever. Today, in the Test match that started between India and South Africa at Eden Gardens in Kolkata, something happened which had never happened before in the 93-year long history of Indian cricket.
Today, when captain Rohit Sharma came on the field with his playing eleven, he unknowingly created a new history. This is the first time that India’s Test team together 6 left handed batsmen Are playing.
Who are those 6 ‘left-handers’?
This is no small thing, as these players come from every part of the team – from top order to lower order. These 6 players are:
- Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper-batsman)
- Ravindra Jadeja (all-rounder)
- Akshar Patel (all-rounder)
- Washington Sundar (all-rounder)
- Khalil Ahmed (bowler/lower order batsman)
That means the team’s opening batsman, wicketkeeper, three leading all-rounders and a fast bowler all bat with the left hand.
Why is this such a big and special thing?
In the world of cricket, it is common to have 2 or 3 left-handed batsmen in the playing eleven, but it is extremely rare to have 6. This has several strategic implications:
- Captain’s confusion increases: The opposing captain also finds it very difficult to set the field. In every over or whenever the strike changes, he has to constantly make changes to his fielding position, which leads to loss of concentration.
This record shows how much Indian cricket has changed now. There was a time when there was a shortage of a good left-handed batsman in the team, and today the team is full of them. This is not only an interesting statistic, but it is also a challenge for the opposition team that they would have never faced before. Now it remains to be seen how successful this ‘left hand’ bet of India is.