DK and India’s finishing options
KOLKATA: India have enough options for opening batters in their T20 team. The top and middle- order slots too wear a settled look with adequate back-up. There is a question mark though on how they approach Nos 6 and 7 if Rishabh Pant bats at three down. Hardik Pandya followed by Dinesh Karthik is the obvious order, if the team management is willing to pin faith on Pandya bowling his full quota of overs.
Pandya, who has batted mostly at No 4 for IPL tabletoppers Gujarat Titans, and Karthik have both been picked for next month’s T20I series against South Africa. But with several bilateral series and the Asia Cup coming up in the next few months, India are expected to try out different options in the lower middle-order. How are they placed in that department? In terms of overall strike rate, no one comes close to Karthik’s 176.9, while scoring 214 runs off 121 balls at No 6 and 7 in this IPL. Throughout IPL, Karthik has statistically been at his best at No 7 with a strike rate of 180.60, compared to the 147.94 career strike rate he has at No 6. RCB have kept his position flexible this season and Karthik has delivered more or less every time.
Not counting the retired MS Dhoni—he is the only Indian apart from Karthik to score more than 200 runs (203, S/R 117.3) in these positions—the alternatives with 100 IPL runs as the cut-off are Rahul Tewatia (160, S/R 140.4), Shahbaz Ahmed (148 runs @126.5), Ayush Badoni (111 runs @ 131.5), Axar Patel (134 runs @139.6) and Riyan Parag (121 runs @145.8). Parag has the next best run rate among the lot, but he is nowhere near being as emphatic as Karthik. Outside the 100-run cut-off, only Shardul Thakur (78 runs @205.3) has a better strike rate at No 6 and 7, but he hasn’t really utilised his opportunities.
A look at how Indian batters at No 6 and 7 have fared facing at least 15 balls in the last five overs of chases paints a better picture of where India stand in terms of finishers. With a strike rate of 192, Karthik again bolsters his position. But this is where quite a few others stake claim.
Tewatia, for example, has been more prolific than Karthik, scoring 87 runs in the last five overs of chases with a formidable strike rate of 235.1. And with the emergence of Rinku Singh (40 runs @266.7) and Ahmed (36 runs @200) towards the end of IPL, India have found enough options should they have to look beyond Karthik in a T20 World Cup year.