Rahul Dravid Admits To India's Long-Tail Problem, Ex-India Star Advocates These Players' Inclusion

In T20 cricket, the Indian cricket team is still battling the long-tail problem. Even head coach Rahul Dravid admitted that there's a shortfall of all-rounders in the team. The 5th T20I between India and West Indies even saw Tilak Varma bowl, taking the prized wicket of Nicholas Pooran. While Varma and Yashasvi Jaiswal have been backed to bowl more often by the Indian team management, even former cricketers are lining up, backing this approach by the Indian team.

Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra called for the Indian team to push for batters who can bowl and give youngsters like Yashasvi Jaiswal and Tilak Varma a long rope and encouragement to bowl as often as possible. He also called for spin-bowling all-rounder Washington Sundar to become a part of India's scheme of things in T20I format.

"Considering that most of the current Indian batters don't bowl even a couple of overs, Indian team must start pushing for batters who do. Yashasvi-Tilak should be given a longer rope…and encouraged to bowl as often as possible. Washington has to be in India's T20 scheme of things too," said Chopra in a tweet on X (formerly known as Twitter).

Considering that most of the current Indian batters don't bowl even a couple of overs, Indian team must start pushing for batters who do. Yashasvi-Tilak should be given a longer rope…and encouraged to bowl as often as possible. Washington has to be in India's T20 scheme of…

Indian stars like Rohit Sharma (11 international wickets) and Virat Kohli (eight international wickets) have not bowled since years despite rolling their arms a bit in their initial years, causing the team to lose out on the variety and options that they could have offered with their part-time bowling. Also, newer stars