IND vs NZ | Takeaways from T20 team selection - Closed doors on Krunal Pandya and the test of pace
Every squad selection in cricket tells a story, Ambati Rayudu can tell you best. And while it can mean closed doors to many, to some it marks the start of a career. As India have already named their 16-man T20I squad touring New Zealand, the resulting narrative is as interesting as it can get.
Every squad, as in this case, is situational, is a result of extrapolation based on past events and focuses on the future. India will play five T20Is against New Zealand, starting January 25, and the aforementioned dynamics definitely play a part in the squad that India have selected.
Two deliveries and gone!
If you call T20 ‘short’, I don’t know what name would suit Sanju Samson’s transient career. A forgotten debut in 2015, followed by four years of waiting for relevance and a few months later he did get to play the second T20I of his career. The chance was there, right there. But two deliveries, and whoosh! it was gone. If we look back now, that first-ball SIX to Sandakan over long-off feels like an eternity now and the lbw in the next over seems like the worst possible climax. But seriously if India did actually consider Samson for the T20 World Cup, to be held in Australia later this year, then they wouldn’t have dropped him after one failed innings. And the more perplexing factor is, what are India doing without a backup wicketkeeper in a five-match series. If not Samson, then who? Perhaps, the fact that India have to choose between a KL Rahul and a Shikhar Dhawan brings it down to the fact that the team will turn to the former to keep wickets. Both openers are irreplaceable but India having all three batsmen, including Rohit Sharma, in the squad will always cause a conundrum. And, hence, Samson is the situational sacrifice here.
Spin-heavy India close doors on Krunal Pandya
India made their last tour to New Zealand a year ago and has only two spinners - Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal in the squad. This time though, the team is flying with four spin specialists, namely Chahal, Kuldeep Washington Sundar, and Ravindra Jadeja. What changed? Well, there can be two ways of interpreting this move by India. One, the last series saw the likes of Mitchell Santner and Krunal Pandya be more successful than the seamers on New Zealand pitches across the three games. The Men in Blue have picked this squad from its past experience. But to look at it, Krunal - a mainstream player last year- has now been forgotten. While it’s his form that’s to be blamed, which reached a low in the back to back home series against South Africa and Bangladesh last year, it also points at the better bunch of spinners that India have in their cauldron. And now, their estimation of New Zealand conditions fits right into their agenda of hand-picking the best of the lot. While left-arm wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav was away from the setup for a long time until the home series against West Indies, Sundar made himself count through his Powerplay specialism. And the wrist-spin duo has done so much for the team, that ignoring them in the upcoming mega event is almost out of question. Additionally, the kind of all-round value Jadeja adds will also be hard to overlook. So while India is sure to have a better picture after the New Zealand tour, it is pretty much evident that Krunal isn’t in any of the plans, be it the WT20 or further.
India’s test of pace and bench strength
India’s pace attack in Test cricket is considered to be the second-best in the world, after Australia’s, if not the best. With a bowler like Jasprit Bumrah in the side, it immediately pumps up the image and value of any attack. However, what India have done without their ace pacer over the past four months shows what a strong bench strength can do. The absence of Bumrah has paved the way for the imminent rise of newcomers like Navdeep Saini, Deepak Chahar and Shardul Thakur. The pacers equipped with pace and bounce, impressive death bowling and brilliant variations have made substantial cases for themselves. Meanwhile, certain Shivam Dube also found his place in the team with Hardik Pandya’s back injury keeping him on the sidelines. Now with Bumrah back into the scene and veteran pacer Mohammad Shami also in the mix, the contest for the Australian berth for WT20 becomes tight. "This was a clinical performance, and that's how we want to build on each series. We have ticked a few more boxes this time. Brilliant from Navdeep (Saini)," an ecstatic Virat Kohli stated after the second T20I. The Indian skipper also hinted that the exceptional bench strength is “a really good sign for the team”. And while the team and its management is ready to take up the “good headache” of the bench depth, the away series against New Zealand is expected to provide a further filter.