Skipper Suryakumar Yadav (left) and his deputy Shubman Gill have been woefully out of form, raising India's concerns ahead of the T20 World Cup in February.
Credit: PTI Photo
Bengaluru: Consider the form of two batters over the last several T20 Internationals that many cricketers would consider themselves fortunate to play across their entire careers.
Batter 1: He has gone without a half-century in his last 24 matches, comprising 21 innings. He averages 13.27 runs per innings with a strike rate of 119.50.
Batter 2: He too has gone without a half-century in his last 15 matches. He averages 24.25 with a strike rate of 137.26.
Would they be retained in the squad for an event as significant as the ICC T20 World Cup? The magnitude of the tournament becomes even greater when one considers that the team is defending its title on home turf.
India are hosting the biennial event along with Sri Lanka, and under normal circumstances would have gladly left out those two batters. However, they cannot, as they are the team’s captain and vice-captain, Suryakumar Yadav and Shubman Gill.
Suryakumar and Gill should have been the main points of debate ahead of team selection on Saturday in Mumbai by the Ajit Agarkar-led panel, but it is unlikely that any serious deliberation will take place over the struggling duo.
In a way, by anointing Gill as vice-captain and handing him more responsibility than he can perhaps handle, the selectors have tied their own hands when it comes to the Punjab cricketer’s selection. His position becomes untenable, especially against the backdrop of Sanju Samson being unjustly pushed down the order and eventually out of the playing XI, and the compelling case presented by Yashasvi Jaiswal with his all-format adaptability.
It is a travesty that someone like Ishan Kishan, who set the Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament alight with a competition-high 517 runs at a strike rate of around 198, would be fortunate just to make the standby list.
With Suryakumar's and Gill’s names written in ink at the top, there is little room to manoeuvre with the rest of the squad that played against South Africa. The squad for the five-match series against New Zealand will also be picked at the same meeting, but it is a no-brainer that it will be identical to the one chosen for the World Cup unless there are injury concerns. India will also have the opportunity to replace any member until the start of the event.
Abhishek Sharma remains unshakable at the top of the order, while Tilak Varma is locked in at either No. 3 or No. 4, depending on where Suryakumar decides to bat. The top four will be followed by a group of all-rounders in Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel and Washington Sundar, with first-choice wicketkeeper-batter Jitesh Sharma and his backup, Samson, slotted in between. Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh and Harshit Rana will complete the pace-bowling line-up, while Varun Chakravarthy and Kuldeep Yadav will be the two specialist spinners.
The squad: Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Shubman Gill (vice-captain), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Washington Sundar, Varun Chakravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav.
Likely standbys: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ishan Kishan, Rinku Singh, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Prasidh Krishna.