India vs England: Time for Men in Blue to make tough decisions for T20Is after semi-final embarrassment

Adelaide: As team India ventured out for pre-match warm-up, Yuzvendra Chahal looked busy. He took catching practice, from close and afar, and then proceeded to physical drills. It almost seemed as if he was getting a call-up, before Axar Patel emerged for his pre-match routine and then started bowling adjacent to the match strip.

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Clearly, Patel had been picked ahead of Chahal. Thing is, this was prior to the India-Zimbabwe game at Melbourne on 6 November. And then, this same cycle repeated on Thursday, ahead of the semi-final against England. Simply put, India couldn’t make a simple enough call to bring in the leg spinner ahead of Patel.

Here is another simple fact. Patel had completely failed to get going in Australian conditions. Usually he is effective when the strip offers some grip, and he can turn the ball just a tad. In pace-friendly conditions of this tournament, he was reduced to a bowling machine, tossing up deliveries to be hit. Indian skipper Rohit Sharma defended Patel’s form, saying he hadn’t been able to bowl a complete quota of overs. Yes, that was precisely because he was being hit all over the park.

How about another fact? Chahal is India’s prominent wrist spinner in the T20 arena and is used to performing wonders in the IPL. He had a slight downturn in form and wasn’t selected for the T20 World Cup last year. Then, he made a remarkable recovery in consecutive seasons, and the selectors duly rectified their mistake. Even so, somewhere along the line, the skipper lost confidence in him, and Chahal was reduced to visiting tourist attractions and creating Instagram videos in Australia.

India took DK to WC. Did not play him in semis. Groomed Harshal as a finisher in bowling. Didn’t play him at all. Brought Chahal back as an attacking wicket taking leggie. Used him as waterboy.

— Amit (@nottheamit) November 10, 2022

This is but a pertinent example of what has gone wrong with Team India in its search for that elusive ICC trophy. The best teams in this business are able to use the entirety of their squads, and call upon different players to perform specific roles. These requirements can change as the tournament progresses, and hence the ability to adapt and ring in changes accordingly is key. While India has failed to do so, even New Zealand to certain extent, the two finalists – England and Pakistan – have utilised this facet to the hilt.

The Black Caps relied on only the same five bowlers through this tournament, and lost out on the one night they needed some different inspiration at the SCG. Meanwhile, Pakistan brought in Mohammad Haris because power hitting at number three was becoming an issue for them. Look at what impact Haris has made across only three matches in this tournament.

The ability to adapt is vital within the game’s expanse as well, after the contest has begun that is. Herein, we consider the India-England semi-final, and how Jos Buttler was able to counter the threat of both Suryakumar Yadav as well as Rishabh Pant with one simple tactic. He used Ben Stokes early in the attack, and thus brought on Adil Rashid as early as the last over of India’s batting powerplay.

India had specifically included Pant to counter the spin threat against the shorter boundaries. But they failed to move him up the order. The only other batsman who could have done so was SKY, and he failed to get going as Rashid successfully cramped him for room. The match situation, with India’s top-order failing spectacularly, meant SKY had no room to wiggle and he holed out.

Read: India’s overhyped fearless approach unearths to be sham

From Patel to Chahal, from not utilising Pant optimally, from experimenting with Dinesh Karthik as finisher and then dropping him for the semi-final, India’s refusal to budge on pre-planned strategies and bring about a chance in execution cost another ICC trophy. That the Indian batting line-up didn’t really change much from 2021, or that in light of Jasprit Bumrah’s injury, they reverted to an archaic bowling formula with Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammed Shami, showcases a refusal to accept change on the Indian think-tank’s behalf.

Part of the blame lies with the captain and the coach. Rahul Dravid was happy to introduce the finisher role and helped Karthik get back into the T20 side. He was content with non-stop experimentation, mirroring much of the failed 2007 ODI World Cup campaign under his captaincy. Will he assume charge of the future and change tack now?

Rohit Sharma’s fault wasn’t just in the poorly timed knock he played at Adelaide. As a batsman, he was woefully out of form, and touch, and timing throughout this tournament. As captain, he couldn’t be dropped. But as a leader too, he was shown to be out-of-sync with reality, bereft of ideas, and a shadow of the skipper we have seen lead Mumbai Indians to success.

As one-sided as they get. India in the bilaterals and league stage seems a different side.

— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) November 10, 2022

Sample this: for months on end, he has talked up an aggressive push to the start of the Indian innings. Where was that aggression when it was needed the most? 38-1 in powerplay and 62-2 in 10 overs? India had lost the game even before Jos Buttler and Alex Hales had picked up their bats.

The other part of the blame lies at the doorstep of the BCCI administration, including the selectors. While the power corridors are happy with raking in IPL moolah, winning ICC trophies has been pushed to the sidelines. Year after year, reaching an ICC semi-final is constituted as success, when it is failure for the behemoth that is Indian cricket.

Meanwhile, the selectors — Chetan Sharma, Debashish Mohanty, Harvinder Singh and Sunil Joshi — none of them have played T20 cricket. They are not T20-certified coaches or have even worked with scouts spotting talent across the domestic T20 circuit. Just because they played longer formats of the game at some point doesn’t mean they understand the requirements of modern-day T20 game.

At this juncture, the BCCI must decide what it wants to do. There is another build-up towards the 2023 ODI World Cup about to commence shortly. In the meantime, the transition towards the 2024 T20 World Cup cannot be ignored or delayed. The need of the hour is to appoint an alternative T20 selection committee, and get them working on the methodology identified by the IPL franchises, and further selecting the Indian team on that basis.

That would still only be the first part of a larger solution. The likes of Dinesh Karthik, Mohammed Shami, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar ought to have played their last T20Is. Rohit and Virat Kohli should be asked about their future intentions, and the incoming T20 selectors should inform them of no guarantees in 2024. To a greater extent, KL Rahul should be asked to fall in-line with the demands of the game, or swiftly be shipped out, irrespective of his IPL standing or stature.

Moreover, as the Indian T20I squad travels to New Zealand under Hardik Pandya, this new look ought to become the base for a permanent new blueprint for the future. The likes of Pandya, Pant, SKY, Ishan Kishan, Shubman Gill, Sanju Samson, Arshdeep Singh and Umran Malik promise a brighter future, an alternative one even, to the complete methodological malaise that afflicts Indian T20I cricket at present.

Anything less will see this insufferable cycle of semi-final exits, replete with 10-wicket embarrassments, continuing into 2024 and perhaps beyond.

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