When chairman of the men’s senior selection committee Ajit Agarkar sat down in the chair and started reading out the squad sheet for Asia Cup, a sigh of relief gripped the entire hall when names of KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer and Jasprit Bumrah were mentioned. After months of unavailability, India finally have three crucial pieces of the Playing XI puzzle back in the mix. In their absence, several rounds of experiments happened but the Men in Blue looked far from getting even close to what the trio brought to the table. If Rahul and Iyer bring stability in the middle-order, Bumrah’s penetration with the new ball and control at the death lends a lot of bite to the attack.
Throughout the media interaction, both Rohit and Agarkar repeatedly mentioned flexibility, balance and depth. The three keywords India were looking for in their previous white-ball assignments but unavailability of key players and underwhelming returns from the tried options meant the management had no option but to hope the first-choice candidates regain full fitness and get enough match time before the World Cup later this year.
KL Rahul has picked up a niggle, which is not his original injury, but the chairman of selectors revealed it’s not too bad and they are expecting him to feature in the Asia Cup at some point. Iyer is fully fit, has played three 50-over games at the NCA and Bumrah is steaming in Ireland just like he did during his peak fitness days. Understandably, there was a sigh of relief in Rohit’s voice and the skipper hopes “they stay for a longer period of time”.
“I will be happy on the day of the (first) game if everyone is available on that team sheet. I will be happy then. Injuries are a part and parcel of the game. Injuries are happening not just in India but everywhere around the world. What we try is to do the best we can. When you have injuries, you can’t really do too much other than thinking about how we can get the other guys to come and do the role that the injured players were doing.
“That’s all you can do and hope for the best that the guys who are injured come back quicker. Now that they are back, hopefully, they stay on for a longer period of time. But I don’t want to talk too much about it. We want to look at the positive side now and move ahead with that,” Rohit told reporters in the candid interaction.
Fitness permitting, the 17 players picked for the Asia Cup and Sanju Samson (backup for KL Rahul) are going to be the players from which the World Cup squad is going to be picked. Rohit asserted that the door is not closed for any player not in the Asia Cup squad and there could well be changes for the World Cup if the need arises.
The No.4 piece and flexibility
Middle-order, No.4 in particular, has been the talk of the town. Numerous former cricketers have had their say on the matter but Rohit chose to dismiss the hype around that in his typical nonchalant style. The message from the captain is clear.
“Look, one thing I want in this team is to make sure everyone is okay to bat anywhere. That is one thing we need to keep in mind. It is very critical moving forward as Team India not just in this format but any format. Cricket is moving in a different direction. You need flexibility. You need guys who can step up at any position. We want guys to bat anywhere. That is the message that has been conveyed to every individual. Not just now but it has been happening for the last 3-4 years. This is an international sport, not club cricket.
“They should be able to go and bat wherever the team requires. It’s not like we change the batting position overnight. They are clearly told that they should be able to bat anywhere. You don’t want to be handicapped with one player batting in one position only. All 7-8 positions are open to everyone. Anyone can bat anywhere. They have been told that this is what the team requires. They have to be flexible,” said Rohit.
The captain further added that with openers and No.3, read Virat Kohli, fixed, it’s the No.4, and No.5 positions where the management wants to follow a flexible approach and use the players as per match situation.
“I will explain properly. When I said flexibility is important, it doesn’t mean you send an opener at No. 7. Or make Hardik open. That doesn’t happen. Shikhar and I opened for the last 7-8 years. Kohli has batted at No. 3. At No. 4 and 5, the newer guys need to be open to bat up and down the order. If you look at the past five years, the openers open. The No. 3 bats at 3. Hardik comes at 6. Jadeja is at 7. No. 4 and 5 will be a bit up and down. That’s not a problem. When I also came in, I batted in many positions. That is the flexibility I am talking about,” said Rohit.
Pace over spin
In Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna, India have picked a potent seam-bowling attack which will be assisted by the two all-rounders Hardik Pandya and Shardul Thakur. India have gone light on spin and preferred to pick only one wrist spinner, Kuldeep Yadav, who will have Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel for company. In spin-friendly conditions expected for the Asia Cup, the team management has played a huge punt by going heavy on pace. Both Rohit and Agarkar revealed there were discussions on leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, offies Washington Sundar and R Ashwin but including an extra spinner would have compromised a seamer. And, they wanted depth!
“We had a deep discussion about an off-spinner and a leg-spinner as well. We want somebody who can bat at No. 8 and 9. And Axar has had a good run this year. He has batted well in white-ball cricket. With him being there, it allows us firstly that option of having a left-hand batter and someone who can go up the order and play the spinners. He can create that long batting depth. We thought about Ashwin and Washi, but Chahal has also had to miss out,” said Rohit.
Starting with the Asia Cup, India will be playing non-stop ODI cricket and with two of their seamers returning from long injury lay-offs, the management wanted to have enough options at their disposal as “seamers are going to play a big role”.
“The only way we could fit them in was if we took one of the seamers out, but we can’t really do that because seamers are going to play a big role in the next two months considering the amount of games that is going to happen. Some of them are coming back after a long time, so we wanted to have a good look at them. Having said that, no door is closed for anyone at this point of time. Anyone can come in. Chahal has played a lot of white-ball cricket. If we feel we need him for the World Cup, we will see how we can squeeze him in,” added Rohit.
The chairman of selectors concurred with Rohit and felt it was about the balance of the team. When asked if dew played a role in deciding the composition of the bowling attack, Agarkar said “good bowlers find a way to bowl in different conditions.
“The dew will play a part. We have seen it many times. It’s more the balance of the team. A good bowler is a good bowler. Good bowlers find a way to bowl in different conditions. It maybe easier for the seamers to grip the ball than spinners, but we have seen good spinners bowl. The balance wasn’t necessarily about the dew. It was more about getting the best balance in the fifteen,” said Agarkar.
The next month will decide the direction in which India’s Playing XI is headed for the World Cup. While most of the boxes are ticked and most players are automatic entrants into starting line-up, the fourth spinner could well come up for discussion depending on how the Asia Cup campaign unfolds.
For now, it will be a test of the flexibility, depth and balance the team was looking for and has finally got after grappling with injury for most of the last 12 months.
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