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After falling short at consecutive T20 World Cups, India should be looking to refresh their side with emerging IPL talent and identify key missing roles in their T20 strategy ahead of the 2024 edition in the West Indies, here’s how they can modernise their batting unit starting with the three-match T20 series in the West Indies next month.
Exploiting Powerplay
India’s inability to regularly ‘maximise’ the Powerplay has been one of the key criticisms highlighted during the recent T20 World Cups and holds true when compared to the two most recent winners. The 2023 champions England scored at 8 runs per over or more in the Powerplay in 7 of their 12 meetings with full member nations across both tournaments, with Australia doing so in 5 of their 11 games — both contrasting figures compared to India’s 1 occasion scoring at 8 rpo or above across 8 games, against Afghanistan in Abu Dhabi.
Rohit Sharma often took on the role of Powerplay aggressor with limited success and his successor picks itself, following Yashashvi Jaiswal’s IPL 2023 campaign. In the past four IPL seasons no Indian batter has had a quicker scoring Powerplay campaign than Jaiswal in 2023, scoring at 175 whilst maintaining a 72 average — the lefty should be a lock in India’s T20 side going forward, should they be looking to exploit the Powerplay.
The Modern Anchor
Another batter ranking high on the Powerplay scoring charts, Shubman Gill, should be earmarked for another role in India’s side — as a ‘modern’ anchor. Gill’s ability to play all types of bowling is unrivalled — the Gujarat Titans opener averages over 30 and strikes at over 145 against all five major bowling types in T20s since the start of 2022.
It’s not just Gill’s ability that demands his selection — it’s also the ease and almost risk-free nature at which he plays his T20 cricket that sets him apart. His Timing Rating (a more advanced version of control percentage) of 164 is the highest ever seen for a T20 batter in the CricViz database and comfortably higher than the 139 timing rating of the current anchor in India’s T20 team, KL Rahul.
Gill’s ability to time the ball better than anyone in T20 history while possessing elite numbers against all five bowling types should have him earmarked in arguably the hardest and most criticised role in modern T20s – the anchor.
Middle Order Left-Hander
India have long battled with the idea of a left-hander in the middle order of their T20 line-up before the emergence of Suryakumar Yadav put that to bed, with him slotting in at No.4 alongside Virat Kohli. India moving on from Kohli (in this theoretical exercise at least) and promoting Suryakumar to No.3 brings back the opportunity to add another left-hander to the batting order alongside opener Yashasvi Jaiswal.
India’s lack of left-right combinations had somewhat limited their ability with the bat, with sides often turning to left arm spin or leg spin to counter the flurry of right-handers in the lineup, as well as having an easier time when bowling on grounds with lop-sided boundaries — across both T20 World Cups, only Ireland had a lower percentage of deliveries faced by a Left-Right combination than India’s 19%.
The ideal left-hander in this case should be able to take down their ‘matchup’ with the bat should Jaiswal get out — Rishabh Pant is of course the prime candidate in this regard despite his struggles at T20I level but India should be looking elsewhere as he returns to fitness, with Suryakumar’s team mate Tilak Varma perhaps the prime candidate, averaging 50 and striking at 140 against left-arm spin and leg spin in his short IPL career. Varma and Suryakumar have batted together 11 times in IPL, amassed 466 runs with their partnerships averaging 42 and striking at 148 — India could do a lot worse than transferring this established combination from Mumbai Indians to the India team.
Build your own Finisher
India’s return to Dinesh Karthik as their ‘finisher’ for the last T20 World Cup didn’t quite work out as planned and they should look to make their own finisher ahead of the next World Cup, as opposed to relying on the sudden form of IPL players. Hardik Pandya will no doubt drop back down the order for his national team, likely occupying the No.6 role and leaving a hole to fill at No.5.
India are rarely blessed with ‘finishers’ but IPL 2023 saw Rinku Singh put his name in the hat alongside Jitesh Sharma — both have benefitted from starting roles in the newly expanded IPL version and India could look to push them to T20I level in the near future.
Alternatively Sanju Samson, a player that India are yet to give a long run in the line-up, deserves his chance at T20I level. The Rajasthan Royals captain may not stand out on traditional metrics but it could be argued that there is no batter in the IPL who is as unselfish as Samson is — across the past three IPL seasons, only Faf du Plessis and Jos Buttler have hit more sixes than Samson’s 67, a majority of those coming during the middle overs, when other batters go into their shell.
Giving an established IPL star like Samson a run in the line-up at No.5 and allowing him to bring his selfless, team-first approach to a new role could yield better results and lead to a more flexible, well-rounded batting line-up than throwing in the likes of Jitesh or Rinku.
India 2.0 Batting Lineup: Gill, Jaiswal, Suryakumar, Tilak (or Pant), Samson and Hardik.
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