India can be called a nation of cricket selectors, especially when the Team India shortlist for any ICC World Cup is to be decided.
Cricket experts across the country get drawn into a discussion about the players to be chosen. So do the fans. The national selectors, head coach will not fall short of suggestions about how to go about the job of finalising names. Chairman of selectors Chetan Sharma and team coach Rahul Dravid, have been entrusted with the task and their necks are on the line if the chosen ones fall short.
The Asia Cup 2022 ended in glory for Sri Lanka at Dubai, a confidence booster ahead of the ICC T20 World Cup next month. The islanders are held up as an example of teamwork at its best, a squad of first-timers competing in the UAE tournament to gauge themselves against the regional giants India and Pakistan. Winning five matches back-to-back, including the final, can be viewed as delivering performances when it mattered. This group of players did not know how competent each one was in match fitness, till it happened and the cricket world admired their all-round talent.
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Fans in India raving about the Lankan brand of bold cricket, under Dasun Shanaka’s captaincy, are aware that advancing to the final stage itself was an achievement for the champion team, anything beyond was a bonus. No fear of failure or pressure to win at all costs allowed a young side to express themselves on the pitch. Little-known names created an identity for themselves and their island nation. India, one of the pre-event favourites on reputation and big-match experience, did not have that luxury.
Holding up the surprise Lankan Asia Cup success as a mirror to India’s inability to seize the moment, makes little cricket sense. The contest between lesser knowns with nothing to lose, pitted against the favourite, is similar to the 1983 World Cup clash at Lord’s. Indian victory, rather than criticism about West Indies failure, was viewed as victory for the sport. The celebrations in Sri Lanka when the team arrives with the trophy, is no different.
Chairman of selectors Chetan Sharma, in consultation with head coach Rahul Dravid, announced a 15-player squad for the T20 World Cup.
Criticism at missing the lessons from Asia Cup 2022 will flow. The reality of experimentation by the team management, involving a couple of players in specific roles, needs to be understood. Dravid and captain Rohit Sharma made sure no player, however experienced or talented, became indispensable to the squad. Rotation also helped in managing the workload each player in contention for a World Cup place endured.
T20 demands performers with particular skills and by exposing certain players in different positions, Team India explored various mix-match options in series or tournaments, including the Asia Cup, much before the time to finalise the World Cup 2022 team arrived. No player was denied opportunities. Experienced hands not available for tournaments due to serious injury or recovering from injury or health issues…. Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah, KL Rahul… were setbacks taken in stride by the team, instead of pressing the panic button.
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Replacements for these regulars capitalised on the chances to demonstrate their understanding of specific roles expected by the coach and captain, as per a larger plan about how the team will approach chasing or defending totals. Jadeja, Bumrah, and Rahul are specialists, in whose absence all-rounder Axar Patel, swing ace Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, and stroke-player Suryakumar Yadav sealed World Cup berths. The majority of the T20 squad was in place, a handful of tough calls made now puts India in a position where the squad looks equipped with batting, bowling, and keeping options.
The heavily-criticised workload management move ensured that the absence of a match-winner of Jadeja’s calibre, due to a crazy off-field injury suffered at UAE, is not going to give Team India sleepless nights. Neither will the absence of opener Rahul, for unforeseen reasons, hurt the intent in the batting line-up about taking the battle to the rival camp. This dependence on key players has reduced, due to foresight by selectors and the coach, in not only T20, but it also extends to the Test and ODI squads as well.
Players essential in three formats faced fatigue, injury or dip in form and needed to be given breaks to recover in body and mind. Bumrah, among the frontline all-format performers, spoke bluntly about burnout as reason for the team’s exit before the knockouts at the previous T20 World Cup held in the UAE. The player commitments with IPL franchises left little room to manoeuvre, unless Team India management understood the situation and worked backwards, using the talent depth in Indian cricket, for the benefit of the national squad.
Dravid, taking over from Ravi Shastri as a coach, allowed players available for Team India selection the liberty to rest and recoup without worrying about their place in the squad. Bumrah’s searing pace, ruthless accuracy in death overs and presence as leader of the bowling unit was missed in crunch games at the Asia Cup, he is back in the fray. The coach should get credit for creating an environment for stalwarts like Virat Kohli to return from a self-induced break from cricket, and get cracking from where he left off.
There is some method in the madness with respect to player rotation and team selection, let us wait for the World Cup to get over, before finding holes in the selectors and coach’s reasoning. T20 is tricky territory, as lion-hearted Lankans displayed in a regional tournament. The title has been shared between nations, starting from 2007 (India), 2009 (Pakistan), 2010 (England), 2012 (West Indies), 2014 (Sri Lanka), 2016 (West Indies), 2021 (Australia).
Every participant team can fancy their chance, current form matters more than reputations. Will Australia retain the title? India under Dravid better prepared than before, we won’t know but efforts have been made, amidst criticism, to create player options.
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