Despite India‘s commanding win over Zimbabwe in Chennai to keep their semi-final hopes alive at the T20 World Cup, Faf du Plessis and Anil Kumble believe the hosts are still searching for “role clarity” in key areas. That, and a better six-bowling option.
South Africa were allowed back into the contest from 20 for 3 and get to 187 for 7. India next play West Indies on Sunday. West Indies had scored 254 for 6 against Zimbabwe and lifted themselves from 83 for 7 to put up 176 for 8 against South Africa.
After India’s five frontline bowlers – Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakravarthy, Hardik Pandya and Axar Patel – Shivam Dube has operated as the sixth option, with Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma and Rinku Singh chipping in occasionally. However, Dube’s figures are far from flattering: in 9.2 overs, he has conceded 124 runs at an economy rate of 13.28, even though he has picked up five wickets.
“They certainly did all the right things to get the batters to bowl a bit through the previous World Cup to now,” Kumble said on ESPNcricinfo’s TimeOut show. “If you look at the last 18 months, where India played T20 cricket where they’ve won every single game, that Tilak Varma got to bowl, Abhishek Sharma got to bowl, Dube got to bowl. Then even Rinku Singh bowled, even Suryakumar Yadav bowled.
“So in that sense, you have options and that’s great. But on a flat pitch, there will be challenges. India would ideally want the comfort of playing eight batters, rather than going in with seven batters and five specialist bowlers.”
Du Plessis agreed that opposition teams would view India’s sixth bowling option as a potential pressure point. From a tactical standpoint, he suggested that sides would look to blunt India’s primary threats like Bumrah and Varun and manoeuvre the game toward the overs they perceive as less threatening, particularly on good batting surfaces.
“100%. You look at it and ask: who are the danger bowlers? Most of the time, it’s Bumrah. On the day, you make that call – if you can get on top of someone else early, then the sixth bowling option is going to have to come in.
“If that happens, and he [Dube] is bowling wide yorkers or defensive lines, you can line him up.”
India have also tinkered with their XI in recent games. Against South Africa, they replaced Axar with Washington Sundar to reduce a left-hand batter and also throw in a right-arm offspinner. Versus Zimbabwe, they drafted in Sanju Samson to break up a left-hand-batter-heavy top order – a move that yielded a brisk 24 – and moved Ishan Kishan to No. 3 from the opening slot, while also pushing Tilak down to No. 6 after he had featured at one-down in the first five matches. Tilak responded with an unbeaten 44 off just 16 balls, effectively doing what Rinku does, and took India to a match-winning total of 256 for 4. But the broader question around role definition remained.
“The team they would have planned before the World Cup and where they find themselves now feels very different from a role perspective,” Du Plessis said prior to the start of the game against Zimbabwe. “Initially, the top three was going to be left-handed, and now you’ve got Sanju coming from five. Possibly to the top. You’ve got Tilak possibly going to five. It’s a lot of movement in terms of role play and if you look at the teams that are doing well, it’s a very set batting line-up.”
Kumble echoed the sentiment, suggesting that India’s long batting order hadn’t necessarily led to clearly defined roles.
“That’s something that India haven’t really been able to manage and yes, they certainly look at a long batting line-up,” Kumble said. “I mean someone like Axar coming in at eight, they need that but, if you want to break it up… The role clarity hasn’t been there with someone like Tilak at three early on and now possibly five, four or even six who knows depending on who’s batting at the other end. Sanju, maybe Tilak, may come in but if it’s Ishan Kishan or an Abhishek Sharma, then maybe Hardik or Surya will come in and Tilak will be pushed out.”
