Letting go? That’s a tough one. Humans, creatures of habit, find solace in the familiar. We cling to our loved ones and hesitate to bid adieu to the places that cradled us. Even as we switch houses and swap roles, there’s this relentless gravitational pull drawing us back to what we’ve left behind. We’re like moths to a flame, forever returning to those familiar haunts and those familiar faces, always allergic to change.
We hunker down in our hometowns, endure unhappy relationships, and tolerate unrewarding workplaces. Ask Xavi, he has decided to bear one more season with Barcelona, 88 days after he had let go and said, “In Barcelona, you always feel like you’re not valued, you’re mistreated.”
We are stubborn creatures, clinging to what is comfortable, like shipwreck survivors to an anchor, even when that comfort is drowning us.
We endure; we soldier on because the alternative — breaking up — is so hard.
And Indian cricket as well is not immune from this reluctance to alter. Our selectors, wearing nostalgia glasses, are unwilling to cast their gaze beyond the shadows of yesteryear. Despite the clamour for transformation following India’s semifinal exit from the 2022 T20 World Cup, it is like deja vu two years later, as eight faces from that squad now travel to the US and the Caribbean for the ninth edition of the tournament.
After creating a nucleus well-versed in the present-day approach to T20s, the team management surprisingly brought back Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli for the series against Afghanistan earlier this year. Despite their class, Rohit and Kohli have struggled to align their batting with the dizzying strike rates that govern T20s today. And their presence in India’s top 3 has come at the expense of Rinku Singh; the left-hander boasts an impressive average of 89, striking at 176.23 in 11 T20I innings.
Rohit (152.77) and Kohli (148.08), opening for their teams in the ongoing IPL, have found themselves outpaced by the likes of Jake Fraser-McGurk (233.33), Travis Head (189.74), Abhishek Sharma (195.20), Sunil Narine (183.66), and Phil Salt (183.33). (Till the Mumbai Indians vs Sunrisers Hyderabad game on May 6).
Rajasthan Royals’ Yashasvi Jaiswal has played the most number of matches as an opener for India — 17 matches, 502 runs, 33.46 average, 161.93 strike rate — since the 2022 World Cup. Jaiswal, after a tepid start in this year’s IPL, has rediscovered his rhythm, amassing 316 runs at an impressive strike rate of 157.21. The southpaw is expected to partner skipper Rohit at the top, while Kohli is slated to occupy the number three slot. In Rinku’s absence, the power-hitting mantle at the death might fall on one of Rishabh Pant, Sanju Samson, or Shivam Dube, who has scored 350 runs at a strike rate of 170.73 in IPL 2024.
As for letting go gracefully, Kohli, too, proves he is human. Despite his declaration of being imperious to ‘outside noise’, he’s been firing more rapidly in press conferences against those pointing fingers at his sluggish strike rate. Even a man of his cricketing prowess finds it hard to simply let his bat do the talking.
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