Former South African captain AB de Villiers has supported Gautam Gambhir’s batting order statement in the white-ball formats. India’s head coach recently said that batting orders are overrated in the white-ball version of the game, barring the opening pair.

India has been flexible in their batting order and have recently promoted the likes of Axar Patel and Washington Sundar in the order. 

“I think in a one-day format, you should know the template that you want to play with. I’ve always believed that in white-ball cricket, batting orders are very overrated, except the opening combination,” said Gambhir in a presser.

Ruturaj Gaikwad batted at number four in the ODI series against South Africa whereas Sundar batted at number five and six in the first two games.

AB de Villiers said on his YouTube Channel, “I do agree with him to a certain extent. I’ve always enjoyed a floating batting lineup in ODIs. But it’s a fine line because you can’t really play around too much with the players’ roles. It’s the top three, four to six, and then your tailenders who can hold the bat. It’s almost like three segments, and you can really be creative with that. Play with right and left-hand combinations and certain situations of the game.”

Meanwhile, India has been phenomenal in T20Is, winning 27 out of their last 31 games. AB said it goes to show the depth in Indian cricket.

“It has been incredible, especially for a T20 format. It’s the most volatile format of the three, and to have that kind of consistency tells you there must be something going on that’s heading in the right direction. I think it’s got to do with the depth of Indian cricket,” said De Villiers (via the aforementioned source).

India won the opening T20I against South Africa by a gargantuan margin of 101 runs at Cuttack.

The second T20I between India and South Africa will be played at Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium, Mullanpur, Chandigarh, on Thursday.