Keep left, next generation on its way

KOLKATA: Ishan Kishan has seen better days: superior conversion rates, quicker fifties and way more sixes. The most expensive player of this IPL, Kishan’s strike rate of 118.21 is definitely not what Mumbai Indians had signed up for when they shelled out Rs 15.25 crore. Kishan is not an automatic choice as the third opener if the selectors are bent on a lefthanded batter in the

T20 World Cup later this year. And considering he was ignored for the last T20 World

Cup despite a good season, Shikhar Dhawan—already 36— looks an unlikely pick this time as well.

This isn’t end of the road though. Kishan has age on his side. There is also no reason to believe that Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja would continue to be the most prominent left-handed batters across formats. Like left-arm Indian fast bowlers, left-hand batters have done well in this IPL. And some of them are promising enough to make the international cut.

This despite right-handers outnumbering lefties almost 4:1 across all formats since 2010.

Between 2000 and 2009, that ratio was just a touch above 3:1. Possibly because after Sourav Ganguly, the most graceful of them all, came a steady stream of left-handed batters: Yuvraj Singh, Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina and Shikhar Dhawan, names that won India their second World Cup and their only Champions Trophy till date. Prior to that India were shorn of them for a long time. Ajit Wadekar and Salim Durani carving simultaneous careers in the late 1960s and early 70s, Deepak Shodhan—who scored a century on debut against Pakistan in 1952—and Nari Contractor being a few prominent names. Vinod Kambli emerged with a lot of promise but faded away soon.

Things look better now. Kishan will no doubt be a longterm investment but Sunrisers Hyderabad’s Abhishek Sharma has given selectors good reason to try him as opener in the buildup to the T20 World Cup. He tends to be cautious at the start but by taking 34 runs off 15 balls from Gujarat Titans’ Rashid Khan last month, Sharma showed he can shift gears easily in the middle overs. Devdutt Padikkal is another leftie who may not be

opening at Rajasthan Royals but will definitely give the selectors a solid alternative at the top. Tall and upright when he goes for the punches and cuts, Padikkal has proven to be a fine accumulator who can adapt to different scenarios. Equally qualified is Venkatesh Iyer who has been shunted across the KKR batting order throughout this season but could be given a more defined role in India colours.

And then there is Tilak Varma who, with 376 runs in 13 innings at No. 4 and 5, has already broken Pant’s record of most runs by a teenager—366 runs in 2017—this season. India captain Rohit Sharma feels he will be an all-format player soon. “He’s been brilliant playing for the first year,” Rohit, also his captain at Mumbai Indians, had said of Varma. “Having such a calm head is never easy and in my opinion, I feel he’s going to be an all-format player for India pretty soon. He’s got the technique, he’s got the temperament, which is the most important thing when you play at the highest level.”

In the middle and lowermiddle order too IPL has thrown up a number of names. Iyer remains a viable all-round option because of his seambowling ability. At the same time, Shivam Dube, Rahul Tewatia, Nitish Rana and Rinku Singh present to the selectors a wide pool to work with keeping in mind their temperament as well as the overall rotation policies. Some have already made their international debut in the past six months.

And while not every name may go on to play all formats, they will be in the reckoning as long as the focus is on creating more format-based player reserves to deal with overlaps in international calendars. That’s where this large sample size of left-handed batters could be very useful.