PERFECT CLIMAX
Pacers and middle-order make India favourite in series decider
A lot of grey areas are yet to be addressed but a young Indian team, with an admirable collective temperament, will start as favourite in the series-deciding fifth T20 International against South Africa here on Sunday.
In a space of eight days, this Indian team has played four games. It fielded an identical XI, which is in sync with Rahul Dravid’s “school of continuity”, seen the nadir in the first two games, only to break its own record of highest margin of victories over the Proteas -- by 47 runs in the third game and by 82 runs in the fourth.
With Dinesh Karthik doing exactly what is expected of him and Harshal Patel and Avesh Khan also hitting the straps, the Indian fans would want to see Yuzvendra Chahal perform a trick or two at his former IPL home ground in a match that matters the most.
If Temba Bavuma is unable to recover, South Africa will miss a leader more than the batter. And suddenly in the last two games, the batting has looked iffy on tracks that have variable bounce, which has made this Indian attack look way more lethal.
Call it strangely pleasant, but it remains a fact that in this series a lot of things haven’t exactly gone as per plan but yet India has managed to level the series after being 0-2 down.
Neither has Rishabh Pant’s captaincy been exceptional nor has his similar pattern of dismissals inspired confidence but India has somehow managed to pull through.
If it finally wins the series the young man would be in that leadership mix alongside Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul when the next transition in Indian cricket happens after the 2023 ODI World Cup.
If coach Dravid wanted to check out whether there is a possibility to tinker with the existing top three, the troika of
Ishan Kishan, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Shreyas Iyer haven’t exactly fitted into the jigsaw puzzle.
Gaikwad, with his current technique, would be nine out of 10 times found wanting against quality attack on better pitches, with sporadic performances here and there. In top flight cricket, he won’t get those couple of uncapped domestic bowlers whom he can bully. On the contrary, he could get bullied by express pace.
Ishan Kishan has a limited range of strokes and one shouldn’t go by the volume of runs scored in this series as the extra bounce and pace on Australian wickets will be a difficult proposition.
Shreyas Iyer got a full series but he should be the first one to admit that he has blown it with both hands and when India next plays against Ireland at Malahide, his place will go to Suryakumar Yadav, considered a way better T20 proponent.