The highest run-getter of last IPL edition, Sai Sudharsan, couldn’t break into the Asia Cup squad. Neither could the highest wicket-taker, Prasidh Krishna, the most influential captain and the second highest six-hitter, Shreyas Iyer, and the thrilling Rishabh Pant. The ultra-talented Yashasvi Jaiswal, highly-versatile KL Rahul and the utilitarian Washington Sundar too would be left wondering which box they had left unticked to be sitting outside the squad.
But India’s depth in the shortest format is so dizzying that none of them could begrudge a rough deal. There are many names, but only 15 to choose.
So much so this was a meeting where the selectors did not fret over the deficient commodity; rather they sweated on filtering the list of excess to the finest parts. A line by Ajit Agarkar, chairman of selectors, on Shreyas Iyer’s non-selection neatly summed up the deep reservoirs of India’s talent. “With regard to Shreyas, who can he replace? No fault of his, nor is it ours. At the moment, you can just pick 15.”
It is akin to the West Indies in the late 70s and 1980s or Australia in the aughts. The supply exceeds the demands. Several cricketers, with the quality to walk into any team in the world, found rationed game-space.
All of the aforementioned names could make a case for themselves, feel dejected undoubtedly and form a parallel team quite capable of beating the chosen 15 on their day. But it is hard to argue against those that would feature in what captain Suryakumar Yadav succinctly said, “the tournament where the journey to World Cup begins”.
Inevitably, Shubman Gill would grab the headlines. But it was not so much of a comeback as it was about him returning to reclaim his spot. “He was the vice-captain when we played in Sri Lanka. But after that, he was busy with Test cricket,” Yadav stressed. The implication was crystal-clear — Gill was always there in the scheme but was just away from the blur of T20Is that India had played after winning the World Cup.
To omit Gill would have been terrible optics too. To keep away the torchbearer of Indian batting in post Virat Kohli–Rohit Sharma era, to turn a blind eye to the wave of popularity he has been riding since the prolific series in England, where he established his leadership chops as well as enhanced his batting reputation, to blink at his star value. “We obviously see some leadership qualities in him, and his form in England was what we were hoping for. [He] exceeded all our expectations, which is a great sign when there’s so much pressure as captain,” chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar said.
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Gill’s T20 numbers are, by no metrics, inferior either. In 21 outings for the country, he had maintained an average of 30.42 at a strike rate of 139.27. He has a hundred on his ledger, and a profitable IPL too. Against high-class bowlers in the World Cup, rather than the second-string outfits that Indian batsmen encountered in routine bilateral fixtures, Gill’s superior batsmanship and adaptability could prove invaluable. In short, the selectors picked a generational batsman over one that is ascending to Gill’s levels (Jaiswal), or one that could provide more dimensions (Rahul). But if Gill were not picked, effigies of the selectors would not have been burned or vitriol be spat against them on social media. He would have been considered plain unlucky, as Jaiswal and Rahul could feel.
Where will Samson bat?
His return comes with a structural shake-up, Sanju would either have to bat down the order, or make way for Jitesh Sharma, more accustomed to lower-order duties than Sanju. “That’s the headache of you guys,” Agarkar would say, chuckling at Yadav. It would be a complicated call. Sanju has three hundreds in his last 10 outings as an opener. But in the era of talent-affluence, cricketers would tune their minds to perform any difficult role, lest they be quickly rolled over by the chasing pack.
Abhishek Sharma provides a classic example. Until last year, Rahul and Yashasvi were ahead of him, but he smacked a hundred in just his second game and continued the rich vein of form. His last outing was a mayhem of sixes that powered him to 135 runs off merely 54 balls. He boasts a strike rate of 193.84, chimes in with handy left-arm spin. Sanju has been the designated wicket-keeper too. So the openers, apart from being batting dynamites, carry multi-utility firepower too, a component the coach Gautam Gambhir highly values.
Similarly, Shreyas Iyer, for all the explosiveness and the white-ball smarts, cannot dislodge Tilak Varma at No 3. His last seven innings had produced a pair of hundreds and an exhilarating 72 on a sluggish Chepauk track. He can roll his arm over too. Glance beneath Varma, Suryakumar. He is the captain and undisputedly the country’s most prolific T20I batsman. Following him is Hardik Pandya, arguably the most indispensable member of India’s first-choice eleven. Then comes Axar Patel.
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The excess of all-round riches confined Washington to the standbys’ list. It must have been minuscule margins, a case of Rinku being a cleaner hitter, him able to contribute with a couple of innocuous off-breaks. Or Dube’s usefulness as a medium pacer, in case Hardik gets injured. A fourth spinner would have been redundant. “We have a mystery spinner, a wrist spinner and left-arm spinner,” Agarkar clarified.
Likewise, Prasidh would gulp the non-selection with a pinch of salt. He is a vastly improved short-form bowler but Yadav promptly pointed out that Harshit Rana took three wickets in his only T20 game. “He came as a concussion substitute and bowled brilliantly,” Yadav said
That Pant’s name barely entered the conversation duly reflected the bewildering options of selectors. It’s the age of excesses in India’s T20 cricket. There are many names, but only 15 to choose.
