While gambles are filled with jeopardies, they also have every chance of striking gold. On the contrary, the percentages of a debacle are high and its repercussions may turn out to be daunting on the face of it.
Cricket, being a dynamic sport, demands immense concentration and persistence and can’t be taken lightly. With the advent of T20 and with the propagation of domestic leagues, the job doesn’t get any easier for any cricketer no matter how much exuberant he or she is.
There’s a flip side to everything and resting the key warriors for the shorter formats of the game is no different. Giving rest to the pivotal performers means that chances of fatigue diminish, but it also means weakening the core of the team, going into a competitive series.
A rightfully earned break
Some changes are applied as desperate measures to resurrect a derailed phase, some are experiments to test out new faces while some are trialled for setting up a core for diverse formats - Tests, ODIs and T20Is.
The requirements of the players in a series are also parked at the back of the mind while deciding to include them in the ODI and T20 squads. Test cricket puts the players through challenges, both physically and psychologically and regardless of their national duties, they deserve a break.
India is currently involved in a home series against England that still has an ODI and a T20 series left in its kitty. While the Test series was prized by India by a margin of 4-0, they are now required to put on the thinking cap to churn out similar results in the rest of the campaign.
The best part of it is that the English team is off for a Christmas holiday and the ODI series still has a couple of weeks to commence. India’s bench strength will be put to test if the big guns are rested for the time being.
A statistical go-through
In the recent ODI series against New Zealand, India benched their spin duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. The pair has manned a chunk of the workload of India’s bowling. Let’s take a look at the number of overs Ashwin and Jadeja bowled in the series versus New Zealand.
| 1st Test, Kanpur | |||||
| Innings | India Overs | Ashwin | Jadeja | Combined | Percentage |
| 1 | 95.5 | 30.5 | 34 | 64.5 | 67.65 |
| 2 | 87.3 | 35.3 | 34 | 69.3 | 79.43 |
| Aggregate | 183.2 | 66.2 | 68 | 134.2 | 73.27 |
| 2nd Test, Kolkata | |||||
| Innings | India Overs | Ashwin | Jadeja | Combined | Percentage |
| 1 | 53 | 8 | 12 | 20 | 37.73 |
| 2 | 81.1 | 31 | 20 | 51 | 62.83 |
| Aggregate | 134.1 | 39 | 32 | 71 | 52.92 |
| 3rd Test, Indore | |||||
| Innings | India Overs | Ashwin | Jadeja | Combined | Percentage |
| 1 | 90.2 | 27.2 | 28 | 55.2 | 61.25 |
| 2 | 44.5 | 13.5 | 16 | 29.5 | 66.54 |
| Aggregate | 135.1 | 41.1 | 44 | 85.1 | 63.01 |
| Series Aggregate | ||||
| India Overs | Ashwin | Jadeja | Combined | Percentage |
| 452.4 | 146.3 | 144 | 290.3 | 64.17 |
The data provided is a palpable proof of how Ashwin and Jadeja shouldered India’s quest of strangling the Kiwi batsmen. Quite deservingly, keeping in mind India’s upcoming assignments against England and Australia, they weren’t included in the ODI teams. However, it was risky business not to play these stalwarts against a buoyant New Zealand team led by Kane Williamson.
The next step that arises is to fill in the void and that’s where the bench strength comes into the limelight. A look into their figures with the ball in the ODI series will show whether the changes were justified or not- justification in terms of figures.
| Spinners | Matches | Overs | Maidens | Runs | Wickets | Economy | Strike Rate | Average |
| Axar Patel | 5 | 43.1 | 1 | 186 | 4 | 4.30 | 64.75 | 46.50 |
| Amit Mishra | 5 | 44.5 | 0 | 221 | 15 | 4.92 | 17.93 | 14.73 |
| Kedar Jadhav | 4 | 18 | 0 | 73 | 6 | 4.05 | 18.00 | 12.17 |
| Jayant Yadav | 1 | 4 | 0 | 8 | 1 | 2.00 | 24.00 | 8.00 |
| Aggregate | 5 | 110 | 1 | 488 | 26 | 4.44 | 25.38 | 18.77 |
Now let’s take each bowler at a time and make an analysis on their performance during the course of the series.
Axar Patel: Strike Rate for a bowler is of prime importance as it determines his frequency of picking up wickets and it’s dismal for the left-arm spinner. Albeit he kept a check on the runs with a miserly economy of 4.30, he never looked like exerting pressure on the Kiwi batsmen as he was milked for runs without much fuss.
Amit Mishra: The wily old leggie was India’s man with the ball in the series. Apart from bagging 15 wickets, he also snared away the Man of the Series award. Out of the 26 wickets snapped up by the spinners, Mishra took more than half of them. Mishra, in the process, didn’t allow India feel Ashwin and Jadeja’s absence from the squad.
Kedar Jadhav: Jadhav was slotted into the overs of the fifth bowler and exceeded expectations as he turned out to be India’s second highest wicket-taker in the series. He kept a check on the runs and hardly dished out loose deliveries for the batsmen to work with.
Jayant Yadav: Yadav was pretty frugal in the four overs he bowled in his debut game, giving away eight runs and a wicket to add to it. It will be interesting to find out whether he is included in the ODI series against England or not, given his superlative shows in the Test series.
Compromising with victory- a No with a Capital N
India’s reserves have been up to the task and helped India humble the Kiwis by 3-2 in the ODI series. The decision to rest Ashwin and Jadeja didn’t cost India the series, but if it had done so, then questions would have been bombarded regarding the reasons behind not playing a full strength team.
Against the likes of Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Zimbabwe and other minnows, risks can be afforded. In the Zimbabwe tour in June, India tried quite a few players out and they didn’t let them down one bit.
India rested the likes of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and many other senior players after a slew of matches that included the Asia Cup, World T20 and the IPL. India lost a solitary T20 game on the tour, but other than that they didn’t lose their way. There are permutations and combinations that need to be gone through before resting the key stars.
At the end of the day winning a match shouldn’t be compromised, no matter what decisions are being taken. The Indian squad for the ODIs against England will be announced a few days later and with the success, India tasted in the previous ODI series, it won’t be surprising if the management applies the same strategy.
