India would be 100 percent ready for ODI World Cup 2023 if Virat Kohli was captain: Rashid Latif

Former Pakistan wicket-keeper bat Rashid Latiff reckons India would be 100 percent ready for ODI World Cup 2023 if Virat Kohli was captain. Kohli resigned as T20I captain after India’s poor show in the 2021 World Cup and then he was removed as ODI captain by the BCCI as the board named Rohit Sharma as a leader.

Meanwhile, Latiff believes India’s team management has experimented a lot and they don’t have a settled batting order from number four to seven position. The former Pakistan skipper feels things could have been different if Kohli had continued as the captain of the team.

India recently lost the T20I series against the West Indies by 3-2 after the selectors backed young players.

“Indian team management has experimented with several players and if I talk about their batting the middle and lower order say from 4 to 7 they just have not allowed any new player to settle down with frequent changes,” Latif said on Cricket Baaz YouTube Channel.

“If they had allowed Virat Kohli to continue as captain, India would be 100 percent ready for the World Cup by this time,” he further added.

On the other hand, Latiff feels the Asian countries will have to take a cue from teams like Australia, England, and New Zealand, who all are batting aggressively in the middle overs.

“The one area where I feel Asian teams will struggle to match these sides are particularly in the middle overs when a fast strike rate is required even in 50-overs,” said the former wicket-keeper batter.

“The English, Australian and New Zealand batters have turned to reverse sweep and switch shots against the spinners into something very lethal nowadays,” he further added.

Pakistan will begin its ODI World Cup 2023 campaign against the Netherlands on October 6th at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, Hyderabad.