India's struggle against left-arm pacers has been a continuing concern in the recent past. The current lot of Indian batters have shown their vulnerability to quality left-arm pacers, and tend to throw their wickets in the batting powerplay as well.
The likes of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have been a bit tentative against left-arm speedsters. Especially against the inswinging ball from a left-armer, India has found the going difficult.
In this article, TSN provides a detailed report about India's struggles against Left-arm pacers.
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Over the years, there have been batting collapses on more than one occasions, the catalyst to which were left-armers. Australia's Mitchell Starc and Mitchell Johnson of Australia troubled India's batsman during the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 semifinals.
Mohammed Amir of Pakistan was impressive against arch-rivals India during the ICC Champions Trophy 2017. Trent Boult of New Zealand has also been effective against the Indian team, taking ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 semifinals as an example.
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India's struggle against Pakistan's Shaheen Afridi
Pakistani speedster Shaheen Afridi has troubled Indians on more than one instance. Shaheen has been overwhelmingly successful in the powerplay overs. In the group stage meeting at the T20 World Cup 2021, Afridi wiped out Rohit and KL Rahul in the powerplay overs.
In the most-recent outing against Pakistan, Indian batsmen got schooled by Shaheen Shah Afridi, who wiped out the cream off the Indian batting order. The 23-year-old picked a 4-fer in India's opening encounter at the Asia Cup 2023. Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya, and Ravindra Jadeja fell prey to Afridi on September 2, 2023.
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Kohli and Rohit: Numbers since 2021 against left-arm pacers?
Since 2021, Kohli has thrown his wicket four times against left-arm pacers. Against them, he has scored 87 runs in 98 balls, averaging meagre 21.75.
In the same period, Rohit has been dismissed by left-arm pacers, six times. He has bagged 138 runs in 147 balls, striking at 93.87.
| Wickets to left-arm pacers | Runs | Balls faced | Average | Strike Rate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Virat Kohli | 4 | 87 | 98 | 21.75 | 88.77 |
| Rohit Sharma | 6 | 138 | 147 | 23 | 93.87 |
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