Is Hardik Pandya key to India’s campaign?
In the World Cup Twenty20, Dhoni has just the kind of team he wantsfull of all-rounders, old and young
NEW DELHI :
In January, when Team India landed in Australia, skipper M.S. Dhoni was faced with some tough decisions about his playing XI. Primarily, it was about finding the optimal balance between bat and ball. The ongoing 2016 World Twenty20 (T20) was then just a couple of months away, and the quest for “balance" was getting desperate.
“There are no ready players available to the Indian team today, as the gap between domestic and international cricket is quite large," Dhoni said at the time—his side lost 4-1 in the One Day International (ODI) series Down Under. “And we don’t really have a fast-bowling all-rounder. What I don’t want is top five or six batters, including the keeper, where you don’t have a bowling option. If somebody goes for runs, you don’t really know what to do," he added, explaining the elusive balance in the ODI side.
But as the Indian team’s international season segued to the T20 format in late January, something changed. It wasn’t just about the arrival of Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina in the squad. It was about a debutant: the raw energy and swagger of Hardik Pandya as he burst on to the scene in a T20 match in Adelaide.
Never mind the “no ready players" remark, Pandya was thrust straight into the playing XI within a couple days of landing in Australia. He made a nervy debut, but has since improved by such quantum leaps that it would not be an exaggeration to say that he will be one of the key players in India’s World T20 campaign.
His knocks against Sri Lanka at Rajkot, Gujarat (27 off 12 balls), and against Bangladesh in the recent Asia Cup (31 off 18 balls) helped ease worries about the middle order. And with 10 wickets in 11 T20 matches thus far, he has chipped in at crucial moments to readily take on the third-pacer mantle. Sure, there is a certain inexperience about him, yet it cannot be denied that his initial entry into international cricket has broadened India’s horizons in the near future.
“Now we have a squad from which we can pick a good team for whatever conditions we come across. If the need of the hour is to play three spinners, we can do that. If we need to play three fast bowlers, we have that covered. If we require two left-arm spinners or two off-spinners, we have them. And we can have all these combinations without the batting getting affected too much. That is good to see," team director Ravi Shastri told BCCI.tv before India’s victorious campaign in the Asia Cup.
At last count then, there are five all-rounders in this World T20 squad—Ravindra Jadeja and Pawan Negi completing the list along with Pandya, Singh and Raina. This is just how Dhoni likes it. Compare the team sheets of the erstwhile Chennai Super Kings and his new team Rising Pune Supergiants—all filled with all-rounders.
“I feel the more the all-rounders, the better the team," Dhoni said at an Indian Premier League (IPL) event in Delhi prior to the Asia Cup. “People say that you need specialists in cricket, but in T20 cricket, I believe the opposite is more relevant. If you have all-rounders who can contribute both with bat and ball, you can play around with different combinations."
When was the last time India had so many multi-utility options to choose from? It was certainly not the case during the 2014 World T20 in Bangladesh, when India struggled for options in the lower order. In that tournament, the Men in Blue rode on Virat Kohli’s superlative form to reach the finals, with the rest of the batting line-up not really tested.
It showed in the final, when Singh struggled to get shots away, and the batting faltered in the death overs. And still, the truth is, it was India’s best playing XI, with all-rounder Stuart Binny the only possible backup option on the bench.
Compare that situation with the current one. Leaving aside the set top order, the slogging duties earlier rested heavily on Dhoni, Singh and Raina, with Jadeja there to throw his bat around if needed. Now, two names add more firepower to the lower middle order: Pandya and Negi, both all-rounders, boasting of a healthy T20 strike rate.
Their inclusion stems from India’s struggles to finish off matches in the limited overs. Throughout 2015, the Men in Blue struggled against Bangladesh and then South Africa, running from pillar to post in search of players who could fit the finisher/slogger role. Their search reached a crescendo in Australia as they tested Rishi Dhawan and Gurkeerat Mann during the ODIs.
“It seems obvious that’s what the Indian team is looking for, that all-rounder who can come in and do the job. In Australia, a medium-pacer is the better option, but when you go back to India, Sri Lanka, etc., primarily the subcontinent, the spinners find it easier," former Australian cricketer Michael Hussey said during the ODI series.
With some brave experimentation, and a call-up to seniors, India have managed to regain a handle on team balance. It shows most importantly with respect to the bowling attack. Pandya performs third-seamer duties, and Singh-Raina chip in too, giving Dhoni the freedom to juggle around his strike bowlers a lot more.
At the same time, the batting order’s power hitting has also been enhanced: Pandya has scored at a strike rate of 147.61 in the 11 T20 matches he has played so far, continuing with the stellar form he displayed in the 2015 IPL season for eventual winners Mumbai Indians (112 runs in nine matches at an average of 22.4 and a strike rate of 180.64). This is even more important since Jadeja has not performed to expectation in the shorter formats of the game, as exemplified by his failure to guide India to victory in the fourth ODI of the Australia series, when the team needed 71 runs in 10 overs with six wickets in hand.
In turn, this puts the spotlight on spinner Negi, given that the Asia Cup was held in the subcontinent, as is the World T20. As part of the Chennai Super Kings’ set-up, the left-arm, late-order slogger had a great 2015 IPL season, making 116 runs in 10 matches at a strike rate of 158.9 and an average of 14.50, picking up six wickets as well.
Chetan Narula is the author of History Of Formula One: The Circus Comes To India.
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