The Indian team is playing three T20 Internationals against Afghanistan, and a week or so later, we will begin a five-match Test series against England. This sometimes makes one wonder how such schedules are drawn. Yes, there are commitments made about having tours between countries, and often, it means that there has to be a mix of the different formats of the game since so much of it is on a reciprocal basis. That’s how there were three ODIs slotted into India’s just-concluded tour of South Africa.
The ICC World Cup had concluded barely a fortnight earlier, so having a one-day series made little cricketing sense. That said, the ODIs get more people through the turnstiles than a Test match would, so instead of having a three-match Test series, we had a two-match Test series, which frustrated cricket lovers from both countries when the two-match series ended with both teams winning a Test each. Maybe even the broadcast rights holder wanted a limited-overs series, as those are easier to sell to advertisers than a Test match. Looking for a context for a particular format is clearly not a priority. The ultra-short format of the game doesn’t really allow the batters to bat for long; it’s not ideal preparation for a Test series. The bat speed for both formats is totally different, though, in the last couple of years, the English batters have been batting in Test matches as they do in a T20 game.
Would it have been better for some Indian batters to have played a couple of Ranji Trophy games to tune themselves for the Test series against England? Apart from KL Rahul, who scored one of the finest Test centuries seen in the first Test match in Centurion, and Virat Kohli, who batted well without quite getting to a century, the other Indian batters had a forgettable four innings in South Africa. We will, of course, see in the coming weeks whether they should have played the T20 internationals against Afghanistan or a Ranji Trophy game.
The Ranji Trophy gets diluted even further when not just the internationals but also the fringe players playing against a visiting A team. The Ranji performances are thus hardly an indication of its real quality since a lot of teams where the players are appearing for the internationals and the ‘A’ games have their ‘B’ teams. With some new entrants to the Ranji Trophy still finding their feet, the performances are quite lopsided and hardly an indication of how good the performers really are.
What the two T20Is have shown is that there are some talented youngsters just waiting for a chance. Bringing back Rohit Sharma and Kohli for the three-match series against Afghanistan made little sense, and the manner in which the skipper got out to the first ball he faced in the second game made one wonder if he is even interested in being out there. Having gotten run out for a duck in the first game, it was expected that Rohit would look to get some runs in the second. Instead, he played a forgettable shot to the first ball he faced and was back warming the cold bench in the changing room, watching two youngsters, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shivam Dube, toy with the Afghanistan bowling attack. Dube’s comeback to the T20 team tells you what giving confidence to a player can do. His hitting is something that Indian cricket lovers are aware of, but it was his bowling, where he was hitting the deck rather than floating the ball on a length, that was the eye-opener.
In his previous opportunities, he looked a bit lost, but this time around, he seems a lot more confident and is hitting the ball out of the ground regularly and easily. If he continues to perform well at the IPL, he gives himself a very good chance of being in the team for the T20 World Cup in June.
It’s early days, of course, and one doesn’t know when Ishan Kishan, who asked to be allowed to go home from South Africa, is going to make himself available again. Rahul Dravid, the coach of the team, has very clearly said that he has to play in the Ranji Trophy and show his form to be considered for selection. Dravid also very categorically and firmly debunked the rumours that Kishan was left out because of disciplinary reasons. Hopefully, that will set the matter to rest and not further sully a young man’s name, which was done by some ill-founded speculation after his name was found missing in the Indian squad for the first two Test matches against England.
Players work very hard to play the game at whatever level, so it’s incumbent on the media to get their facts right rather than speculate and spoil a young man’s name. Kishan is a rare talent, and Indian cricket lovers should back him to come back to scoring and entertaining us sooner rather than later.
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