India begin quest for fresh T20 momentum
NEW DELHI: There was a moment of confusion in Rohit Sharma’s media conference when India’s world ranking in the shortest format came up on Saturday, on the eve of their first T20 tie against Bangladesh at the Ferozeshah Kotla ground. Rohit asserted his team was No. 5 while everyone else was less certain.
India, who were world No. 2 in T20s just a few months back, though more in the news for their resounding success in Tests and ODIS, suddenly slipped three spots when the new rankings came out in May.
Behind the drop was a new system that excluded the results from 2015-16 and gave only 50 percent weightage to the results of the subsequent two seasons—2016-17 and 2017-18. Not just that. Over the last one year, India’s T20 results have not been that impressive, and the rankings thus give a true picture of where they stand.
Numbers reflect the dip. India have played 16 T20s in the last 12 months, winning nine and losing six. Six of those wins have been against West Indies, who are No. 10 and ranked just above Zimbabwe, Nepal and the UAE. Worse still is India’s record at defending targets. Batting coach Vikram Rathour had spoken on Friday about the need to address that.
FAMILIAR PATTERN
In the same period (last 12 months), India have batted first in five matches, winning two and losing three with both wins coming against West Indies.
“We’ve looked at certain numbers and stats on how we have done when it comes to chasing and also posting targets. Our numbers are very good when we chase, whether it’s in India or outside India. Something we really want to focus is to post targets and defend them,” said stand-in skipper Rohit Sharma.
“That is where we are lacking, which is why you saw the last T20 we played in Bengaluru, where the pitch was a bit sticky but we still opted to bat. We wanted to try and challenge ourselves on how we can take up that challenge of posting scores on difficult wickets against difficult bowling attacks. “We are ranked fifth in T20s, we need to get that number higher.”
FINDING BALANCE
The Indian squad has been far from certain and balanced, but there is more focus now on blooding youngsters and getting the combination perfect. Leaving out the seasoned Dinesh Karthik in the last two series seems to point to the direction the India selectors are moving in.
India have recalled Sanju Samson and Shardul Thakur, who has replaced the injured pacer Navdeep Saini.
As in ODIS, batting remains a problem, especially at the finish, for India. With Hardik Pandya (injured) and Ravindra Jadeja not playing, India could also fret over the all-rounder’s option, though they are up against a Bangladesh side that is also missing key players, which includes the bowling department. Mumbai’s Shivam Dube and Krunal Pandya are the two all-rounders who are likely to play.
Sharma also felt there had been chopping and changing in the middle order. “We have a lot of options. They need to get more games under their belt to be more confident. The team a few years ago was very much settled, so there was not much room for a younger player to come and grab that opportunity.
“There was always chop and change between numbers 4, 5, 6 and 7. This is the best time for us to try out these guys. Shreyas Iyer, Shivam, Manish Pandey and Rishabh, lot of guys who can get the job done at the end.”
He feels some of these younger batsmen must improvise a bit if they are to help finish the innings well.
“When they play for their IPL teams it’s different but when they come here it is a different ball game. They bat higher in IPL. (Also) in IPL there are 15 games guaranteed, but not in international cricket. That is the challenge in international cricket—you will not get what you want. You have to earn that position and make sure whatever little opportunities you get, you make the most of it.”
Sharma, among the most successful IPL captains, will be playing his 100th T20I in this series. There have been calls to make him the India T20 skipper, but he has led only intermittently. Does that affect him?
“You need a lot of strategies and planning in T20s, understanding of the players and what they can offer. That is something I executed at Mumbai Indians... when you are captaining the side, you are not such an important person, the other 10 are more important because you want to get the best out of them.”