Amsterdam: Former South African opener Barry Richards has hit out at India’s theory of going into a one-day game with seven batsmen and wanted more flexibility in the Sourav Ganguly-led squad’s approach in the limited-overs format with better equipped tailenders available now.

“I have been of the opinion if six batsmen can’t do it, then seven would not make any difference,” he said.

“I have never been convinced about it. Yes, in the NatWest Trophy (that India won in England in 2002), Yuvraj (Singh) and (Mohammed) Kaif did it. But if you look at the stats, you would know how many matches No. 6 and 7 have won for you and how many they have lost,” Richards said in support of his viewpoint.

Richards felt that Kaif had actually declined as a batsman because of the situation in which he comes in to bat. “Kaif has actually gone backwards because when he comes in it is 60 for five and he is under pressure. Or, when he comes in it is four overs to go.”

“India went for seven batsmen because their No. 8, 9, 10 or 11 couldn’t bat. Now you have (Laxmipathy) Balaji, (Irfan) Pathan and (Ajit) Agarkar. Australia have always followed this method and the likes of (Brett) Lee and (Michael) Kasprowicz can either hold one up end or give it a go,” he noted.

Richards also wanted more flexibility in the team’s batting order, especially over the position in which Rahul Dravid comes in to take strike and pointed out the case of Australia’s one-day specialist Andrew Symonds as the perfect example to prove his point.

“Flexibility is the way to go. Andrew Symonds comes to the ground knowing he might bat at No. 7 or 3. He’s comfortable with it,” he said.

“That’s the kind of flexibility they got to have in the Indian camp, so that Rahul knows he might not be in a fixed position. It was a perfect situation here in Amsterdam, where the matches were rain-reduced, to have tried this out,” he said.