Shardul Thakur, included in the T20I team after Ravindra Jadeja suffered a concussion, he had claimed that the team is viewing the white ball leg of the Australian tour as a six-game series rather than two three-game series in ODI and T20I format.
Following that perception, India is 2-2 with Australia with two T20Is to go in Sydney. Sunday’s second T20I, then, gives them their first chance to get ahead of the hosts on this tour.
At the beginning of the year, India coach Ravi shastri and captain virat Kohli had stated that the ODI format was insignificant when there are two T20 World Cups lined up and that the format could only be considered as an extension of the T20 game. In essence, the Indian team is in the middle of a long and winding audition.
Hearing has often resembled musical chairs to most performers. The search for the right combination seems to have no end. Caught in the commotion are the middle order hitters like Shreyas Iyer, Sanju Samson and Manish pandey. Then there is the spinning department. The once perceived magic combo of Kuldeep Yadav Yuzvendra Chahal has already been given the goby as leaders grapple between managing workloads and opportunities.
Every XI that plays, in all formats, has seen changes. Call it “giving opportunities” or “cutting and changing”, the question is how long is India willing to experiment? Most successful IPL captain Rohit sharma He has even expressed his dislike for “cut and switch” methods.
The team sheet provided by Kohli in Sunday’s drawing will provide a clue.
India has to prepare a reserve for each player until the World Cup arrives. But the first-choice players have yet to be identified. There is hardly a player except Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Shikhar dhawan Y KL Rahul who has a decent 10-game streak. So how is consistency measured?
“Process” has been a convenient word used in Indian cricket for the past decade. It has been the answer to all difficult questions. However, there has only been one Bumrah, after Kohli, that has managed to secure a place in the XI of reproduction in all formats.
Performance in the one-day format aside, India’s good performance in T20I in the last year would say that there is no reason for the management of the Indian team to renege on their ‘process’. They have been undefeated in their last nine T20I.
However, Sunday is an opportunity for the team to establish themselves in their first team. T Natarajan, for his part, has given enough confidence to allow Bumrah a good rest before the test series.
Shardul has shown enough control to replace a discolored Shami. It’s time for them to run. Chahal gave a lesson in the last game.
The only place where the team could take off is the absence of Ravindra Jadeja. Lately, they have relied too much on their lower-order heroics. They have not had a backup for Jadeja in the team. Maybe it’s time for Washington Sundar to take more responsibility with the bat.
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