IND vs AUS | Squad Takeaways - Surya 'unlucky' Yadav, Pant's 'disaster' management and India's punt on Varun

It's about and beyond time when Suryakumar Yadav calls up national selectors and ask them for the long list of 32299 requirements that he needs to fulfil before getting picked for India. SKY has scored a heap of runs in domestic cricket - Best strike-rate (189.28) in 2019/20 Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy among top 10 run-getters, 500-plus 2018 IPL, 400-plus 2019 IPL and a strike-rate of 148.95 this IPL, his omission is outrageous, not only because of the runs, because he is arguably the most versatile and inventive stroke-maker in T20 cricket for India. What's common in India's T20I top five- Rahul, Dhawan/Rohit, Kohli, Shreyas, Pandey - all are accumulators and top-order anchors.

We are in the 13th edition of the best T20 league in the world and India have still won just one T20 World Cup, no wonder why - they are hell-bent averse to innovative thinking and can't think beyond their run-of-the-mill approach. Iyer (129.5/130.38) and Pandey's (127.62/125.00) strike-rate in T20Is and IPL 2020 are crying out loud for India to do something before another WC goes by sans silverware.

From being touted as a gun white-ball player to becoming India's first-choice Test gloveman to playing as a specialist batsman in World Cup to taking over the full-fledged wicket-keeping mantle to not even getting chances in dead rubbers against New Zealand to finally getting dropped from India's white-ball squad, even Pant would need some time to comprehend Indian cricket and its mysterious ways. If Rahul was going to be the first choice wicket-keeper, what was the whole point of priming Pant all the while? India tried to make Pant an accumulator, at least by the looks of it or the 'rap on the knuckles' comment by Shastri. Not that he needed to be spoon-fed, but nurtured, for sure. 

It was not the first time when a Test player's selection in India was influenced by IPL - case in point - KL Rahul. But even if it happens for the 5748th time, it would not go under the radar. We have one of the greatest First-class tournaments in the world - Ranji Trophy and despite that, if IPL serves as major criteria for selection, then it is just outright sad, especially for those hard-working cricketers, who dream to represent India one day in Test cricket after putting in their sweat, blood, tears and excelling in front of empty stadiums. 

Well, props to Sunil Joshi and co for this unlikely and non-mainstream selection of Varun Chakravarthy. These are the 'bolt out of the blue' sort of punt that is rightly needed for turning around India's fortunes in T20Is. The only bowler to take a five-fer this IPL, an economy of 7.18, 13 wickets in 11 games and out bowling Sunil Narine and Kuldeep Yadav, Varun's mystery has befuddled the batsmen. It's the unflappable temperament and a great head on his shoulders, that enables the architect-turned-cricketer, to disguise his bag full of 'bamboozling tricks' in pressure-cooker situations. Not only he is a wicket-taking option but also accurate and can control things from one end.