AMONG THE STELLAR invitees for the recent silver jubilee celebration of Sunil Gavaskar’s CHAMPS Foundation (which supports former sportspersons and their families) were Rahul Dravid and Ajit Agarkar.
The past few months have been frenetic for the head coach and chief selector, given the number of assignments and travel involved, as also emotionally draining, with the roller-coaster ride Indian cricket has been through. A spectacular ODI World Cup campaign ended in heartbreak in the final. The quest to finally win a Test series in South Africa misfired as India lost the first match. Though the team fought back to square the rubber, glory proved elusive. The season was turning out to be a bit of a letdown, but then came the redemption song against England; India clinically dismantled Bazball to hand the visitors a 4-1 drubbing.
Fresh from the win, Dravid and Agarkar said they were looking forward to some rest and recreation this IPL season. Dravid, an inveterate ‘home bird’ as it were, revealed he would be spending time with his family in Bengaluru. Agarkar, a self-confessed golf-junkie, was eager to resume teeing off on the greens of Mumbai.
However, the desire to savour this triumph quietly and not be in the thick of things for the IPL season was wishful thinking. The IPL is always compelling, but this season even more so for those handling portfolios like coaching, selection and captaincy, as it leads directly into the T20 World Cup. Even if away from the action directly, Dravid and Agarkar have to be ‘on the ball’.
Tracking and analysing players from all over the world―who will be part of opposing teams in the World Cup―will be an important part of the agenda for these two, and by extension, captain Rohit Sharma, too.
Hardik Pandya | PTI
After disappointing defeats in the World Test Championship and ODI World Cup finals, these three showed―in the England series―seamless understanding in working out selection of players who would deliver on strategies, tactics and roles and other demands made of them.
But that is in the past. The three, quasi-officially for now, are confronted with perhaps the even more challenging task of identifying players for the World Cup to be played in the US and the Caribbean come June. India’s record in T20 World Cups, after winning the inaugural tournament in 2007, has been modest. Some would, in fact, call it poor. After 2007, India have always entered as favourites, only to come a cropper, much to the surprise of experts and the chagrin of fans.
This year, the pressure of expectation will be even greater, which makes the selection process even more daunting―not because the talent pool is limited, as is the case for several countries; rather, because cricket talent in India has exploded to such a degree that there are multiple claimants for virtually every position in the squad, some in fact for multiple positions. Consider this.
TOP ORDER: Apart from Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ishan Kishan, Ruturaj Gaikwad and K.L. Rahul are some others who have opened in the past and have played international cricket. Add to these new names like Naman Dhir, Ramandeep Singh and Sai Sudharsan. All of them can also bat at numbers three or four, too.
MIDDLE ORDER: Injury to Suryakumar Yadav has opened up a slot. Eyeing this is a clutch of players that has been around for a while, like Shreyas Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Ishan Kishan and a newbie like Rinku Singh, who has already made a mark as a sensational finisher.
WICKET-KEEPER BATTERS: Competition for this slot has intensified after Rishabh Pant’s return from injury and a protracted spell in rehab. When he got injured, Pant was front-runner for this place. Now, he has not just Ishan Kishan and Sanju Samson to stave off, but also Rahul (who is looking for a way back into the team) and Dhruv Jurel, who made such a huge impact against England, albeit in red-ball cricket. The hard-hitting Jitesh Sharma could also be in contention.
Incidentally, these wicket-keepers can also be considered specialist batters. If they do not make the cut as wicket-keeper, a batting slot will do fine. This increases the jostling for places in the batting from top to lower order.
SPINNERS: Apart from Ravindra Jadeja, there are at least six men vying for a possible three more slots. Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel and Ravi Bishnoi have been in the mix in recent times, and Yuzvendra Chahal and Washington Sundar are eyeing a comeback. I would venture even R. Ashwin. Given his form and ambition, a good IPL could put him back in the running.
Jadeja, Axar, Sundar and Ashwin are fine batters, too, which might narrow down options among spinners, but increases it among all-rounders.
PACE BOWLERS: Jasprit Bumrah’s brilliant return from injury has been a great boon. Mohammed Shami’s injury, which has kept him out of the IPL, is a setback to preparations for the World Cup, but has opened up opportunities for a plethora of other pacers. As in other departments, there is a surfeit of talent here, too. The pool from which to pick the support cast to Bumrah includes Deepak Chahar, Mohammed Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep, Avesh Khan, Khaleel Ahmed and Mohsin Khan.
The key name in this bunch is Hardik Pandya. As a fast-bowling all-rounder, his skill sets are the most coveted in every format, even more so in T20. There are very few of his type in the world, and with Ben Stokes not bowling regularly, Pandya is possibly the best such exponent in the game currently.
Not long back, Pandya was touted as India’s captain for the T20 World Cup. That narrative got disrupted when he got injured in the ODI World Cup, and in the weeks since, it has veered towards his rejoining Mumbai Indians, this time as captain. It is an important assignment for him, but not quite as much as winning a place in the T20 World Cup team. In this, he has no rival but himself. He has to keep himself injury-free and show the match-winning all-round form that made him India’s MVP not too long back.
As I see it, only four players are certainties right now for the World Cup: Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja. This choice will trigger debate, but it is mine, and is based on the calibre of the players, their virtues, technically and for temperament, their rich experience and, not the least, current form. For the remaining slots, Dravid, Agarkar and Sharma have to traverse a maze of small and big battles between similar players, and have to suss out whether they fit into the grand scheme of winning the World Cup.