Two moments stood out in this India-England Twenty20 International series. First, in Kanpur, when Virat Kohli picked Yuzvendra Chahal ahead of Amit Mishra for the first match. He had picked an ideal balance there, pairing an off-spinner with a leg-spinner, but only he knows why the youngster was selected ahead of an experienced hand.
The second moment was in Nagpur, wherein again Kohli picked Chahal ahead of Mishra, only this time it was about deploying him first up to blunt the explosive Jason Roy. He went wicket-less but with figures of 0-22 in his initial three-over spell, Chahal did his job reasonably well.
Here, Kohli’s logic can be worked out a bit. Mishra is a bit slower through the air and on a Jamtha pitch devoid of pace, bowling with the new ball could have been adverse. Plus, he has the necessary guile to bowl in the middle overs, perform a holding role per say.
Kohli’s familiarity with Chahal
The most important aspect, though, is Kohli’s familiarity with Chahal, especially when it comes to T20s. It has been bred in the heated environment of the Indian Premier League, wherein the youngster has to go face-to-face with big guns from the world over (plus hot shots from around India aiming to make their mark). Half the time, their relationship has been built on the Chinnaswamy Stadium’s hit-ball-and-it-disappears pitch and the youngster has held his own in a Royal Challengers Bangalore squad full of international stars.
This is where Kohli’s confidence in Chahal stems from, and then the Indian skipper is bestowed with the willpower to effectively work a contradictory ploy of two leg-spinners in the same team. And so, from Kanpur to Nagpur to Bengaluru, Chahal’s mega spell of 6/25 finds its roots in the summation of this conviction.
Chahal’s success rings in another pointer, one that has been the focus of India’s selection throughout this limited-overs engagement with England. Through the heroics of Kedar Jadhav and Hardik Pandya, and now to Chahal, the riches of the IPL have come to fruition. It is almost a bank, full of reserves to be called up in the ODI/T20I arena whenever necessary. It gives a return on investment when opportunities are given to these players, and all three of them have proven themselves ready for the future.
Dubious call by selectors
As such, this progression doesn’t come to its natural conclusion if these chances are not given. Once again, the team management decided to make a dubious call in leaving out Manish Pandey. He was the second-highest scorer in Nagpur, and without his partnership with KL Rahul, India wouldn’t have reached a defendable 140-odd. His prize – dropped in Bengaluru for Rishabh Pant.
It isn’t to say that Pant should have been continually left out, even though he didn’t get many deliveries to prove his worth in this third T20I. The debate is whether both Pandey and Pant ought to have been included in the playing eleven ahead of Yuvraj Singh from the very onset of this series.
Let it be said here that the foremost error is on the part of selectors here for picking him in the T20I squad. Once in, whether in-form or not, it would have been very difficult to leave him out, and thus both youngsters missed out on valuable game time. It is a particular setback for Pandey, who has done a prudent job for Kolkata Knight Riders in the middle order. Yet, he has been neglected in the wake of one poor series against New Zealand.
It is also safe to assume that Pandey is out of reckoning for the Champions Trophy. Talking of which, it was in keeping with their decision to bring back Yuvraj into the fold that the management made the necessary change in the batting order. MS Dhoni at No. 4 and Yuvraj at No. 5, both with a license to go after the bowling, worked out well as it assured a barrage of runs late in the innings.
Raina for Champions Trophy?
The Indian hitting prowess on display started with Suresh Raina though. On the lines of Pandey’s exit from the fray, it is safe to assume that the left-hander has played himself into contention for the Champions Trophy. Perhaps it was the plan all along, allowing Jadhav to cement his place in the finisher role in the ODIs first, and then slowly bring Raina back in. Future speculation plays out quite extensively herein, for the immediate overall effect of winning this T20I series is nearly nil.
The Bengaluru pitch was the truest wicket – obviously – in these three matches, and spurred by a poor English bowling performance, the big guns came out. Raina established his primacy as a No. 3 batsman in this shortest format once again. Dhoni showcased why he is still a force to be reckoned with, but needs to be handled with intelligence and pushed as higher up the order as possible. Yuvraj’s strikes were a positive sign of his confidence and form. It was a reconfirmation of this prolonged international warm-up granted to him in the build-up to the Champions Trophy, even if it has come at a cost of neglecting Pandey and Pant.
Together, they pushed the score past England’s reach, albeit only in hindsight. At the halfway mark, given this ground’s T20 history, it all depended on the start provided by Jason Roy and Sam Billings. The former departed earlier than his team would have wanted, while the latter was a non-starter. There is only so much Joe Root and Eoin Morgan could have done.
England’s inexplicable downfall
As such, that 22-run over off Raina was a pivotal marker in that run-chase then. Root/Morgan could have cut loose thereafter. Or, the whole line-up could have collapsed. The latter happened, and even then, eight wickets for eight runs in 18 balls is a massively inexplicable downfall. As Morgan pointed out later then, perhaps it was indeed their “worst batting performance in the past two years”.
There is no reason to worry though. England have given an impressive account of their limited-overs’ progress and will leave these shores with their heads held high, more than their Test side at least. Come June, they will start as one of the favourites for the Champions Trophy at home. As for India, judging by the jigsaw pieces starting to fall in place, they might be in contention as well.
