Team India embarks on a tour of Zimbabwe where they are scheduled to play 3 ODIs and an equal no. of T20s. The last time they went to Zimbabwe, the team was captained by Ajinkya Rahane, and it clean swept Zimbabwe in the ODIs, and levelled the T20 series.
Between now and then, Rahane has become one of the premier batsmen in the team and has been elevated to the test team’s vice-captaincy. The rise in his stature can further be judged by the fact that he is among the players who have not been picked for this tour so as to be fresh before the start of a grueling test season that’ll see our team play 17 test matches in the next year!
So a young Indian team has been sent for this tour, wherein with the exception of captain MS Dhoni and Ambati Rayudu (who has played 31 ODIs) , no other player has played even 25 ODIs, and 5 are yet to play international cricket. The inexperience of this squad can be ascertained by this once stat, that with 275 ODIs and 68 T20Is, the captain has more experience than the other 15 players combined - 83 ODIs and 28 T20Is. Staggering!
Now, the question that arises is – What does team India stand to gain from a tour like this?
Let’s look at the areas where this tour can help the team discover something fruitful for the future:
#1 A good back-up opener:
That Rohit and Shikhar are the team’s first choice openers in limited overs cricket is no secret. Both of them enjoy the captain’s confidence and backing, and to be fair to them, they have indeed performed relatively consistently at the highest level to deserve that.
But what if one of them gets injured or has a massive loss of form? Who’s the immediate replacement who can slot seamlessly into the opener’s role, without the team having to do with a make-shift arrangement of moving a middle order batsman to the top?
Ajinkya Rahane has been batting at no. 4 for quite some time now and as he’s settling into that role as a senior batsman now, it wouldn’t make much sense to move him back to opening and weakening the middle order should such a situation arise. Hence, the need of a specialist back-up opener.
This team selected for Zimbabwe has a few candidates – K L Rahul and Faiz Fazal as specialist openers and even Mandeep Singh and Karun Nair, based on their past opening experience in the IPL, if the team management wants to try them; so potentially 4 options here, and 6 games for them to make a mark and cement a spot as a reserve limited overs opener.
The front-runner: KL Rahul – Owing to his IPL form and past international experience of having scored 2 test hundreds. Also the fact that he can take the wicket-keeping gloves in case of an emergency.
#2 A back-up wicket-keeper:
M S Dhoni’s “act” at the press conference where he mentioned that he’d have asked an Indian journalist if he has a son/brother who can keep wickets for India after he retires, clearly tells that he as well as the selection panel have no clear replacement in mind should MSD retire from international cricket, or get injured.
To be fair, there’s no shortage of options – Saha, Pant, Samson, Uthappa, Karthik, Parthiv, Naman to name a few. But for this series, no one has been selected as a keeper as MSD isn’t skipping this series, and will keep wickets, but one man who has a lot to gain from here as a keeper, is KL Rahul, who kept wickets for RCB in the recently concluded IPL, and has even kept wickets in a test match.
The fact that there’s no specialist back-up keeper for this tour might help Rahul get some valuable tips from MSD to hone his skills as a keeper and who knows, he might even be tried as a keeper in one or more games in this series just to see how good he is!
The front-runner: As there’s no specialist to back MSD up, there’s no clear front-runner but K L Rahul might want to have a say in the matter!
#3 A finisher:
Rohit, Shikhar, Virat, Ajinkya, MSD – This is what India’s top 5 is in ODIs. At no. 7, usually, it is Ravindra Jadeja, so who’s at 6?
Suresh Raina lost his place in the ODI side on the tour to Australia and hasn’t been picked for this tour either, which means currently he seems to have lost the faith of the selectors as far as his role in one-day games is concerned.
And as for Yuvraj, as sad as it is for fans, it seems like it’s the end of the road for him as a limited overs international cricketer as the selectors have chosen to ignore him for this tour despite a decent showing in the IPL.
This opens an opportunity for quite a few middle order players to try and fit into the role of a finisher for the side. This squad has Manish Pandey, Ambati Rayudu and Kedar Jadhav who’d like a chance to audition for the same.
Many might argue how Rayudu, with an average of above 45 at a strike rate of 78 after 31 ODI games still isn’t a regular member of the team, and they’re aren’t wrong in their assessment. In fact, when India toured Zimbabwe last year, he was the man of the series in the ODIs.
Manish Pandey must be itching to get another chance to further improve his credentials for the role after his breathtaking knock against Australia in the last one-day that won team India the match and avoided a whitewash.
Kedar Jadhav’s is a curious case. He averages above 48 in ODIs at a strike rate of above 106 (although it’s a small sample set; just 4 matches), and in his last game for India almost a year ago, he scored a match-winning hundred against Zimbabwe, in Zimbabwe, and was named the man of the match.
The front-runner: Manish Pandey – On current form and as he has age on his side.
#4 A quality spinner:
In limited overs cricket, team India’s incumbent spinners have been Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja for quite some time now, but when we look beyond them, no one has been able to lock a place with conviction so as to slot into the XI as soon as he gets a chance in place of either of these two.
Harbhajan Singh has made comebacks but never got a regular run in the XI. Amit Mishra somehow doesn’t ever seem to enjoy his captain’s trust despite being a stellar performer across formats in the last few years, which includes a record performance of 18 wickets in a 5 match ODI series when team India toured the same country earlier, and Axar Patel hasn’t done enough with the bat to be able to comfortably replace Ravindra Jadeja in the team.
This time, the chosen ones are: Axar Patel (given another chance after a decent IPL), Yuzvendra Chahal, who’s impressed one and all in the last 2 IPL seasons, and Jayant Yadav, who has displayed an ability to keep a tight control over line and length, and hence, runs.
They’ll get 6 matches against a relatively weaker opposition to try and stake a claim to be India’s reserve limited overs spinner; one who can slot into the team at any time if Ashwin and/or Jadeja aren’t playing.
The front-runner: Chahal – After an outstanding IPL and given the fact that he’s a leggie, to complement the off spin and left arm spin of Ashwin and Jadeja respectively.
#5 The much-needed pacer:
Over the past few years, no pacer, absolutely NO ONE, has been able to nail down a permanent spot in India’s one-day side. A great example is that just over a year ago, in the 50 overs world cup, our pace attack was – Umesh Yadav, Mohammad Shami, Mohit Sharma and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, and we see none of the 4 in this squad for Zimbabwe, despite them all being fit as seen in the recently concluded IPL.
This time, the ones who’ve been given another chance to impress are Dhawal Kulkarni, Jaydev Unadkat, Jasprit Bumrah, Barinder Sran and Rishi Dhawan.
The fact that there are 5 pace options in the squad gives the captain a chance to rotate them well and try and give an opportunity to all of them to showcase their talent at some point in the series.
The front-runner: Has to be Jasprit Bumrah, after impressing one and all with his death overs bowling in Australia, in the T20 World Cup and in the IPL.
When the team is back to full strength, we can be sure that at least 8-9 players who are not on this tour will walk back into the team, so these 6 matches will serve as a God-sent opportunity for these fringe players to make a big statement and catapult themselves into the big league, to represent India against tougher oppositions in the years to come.
If a few of them can really grab it, we’ll be looking at a stronger team India for the future, as it’s the quality of a team’s bench strength that helps it stay at the top once it gets there!
Click here to get India Squad for T20 World Cup 2024. Follow Sportskeeda for the T20 World Cup Schedule, Points Table, and news
