AGENCY
Mumbai, Jan 29
Q/ We were praising them to high heaven, and now they’ve gone and lost a match. But that’s par for the course in T20 cricket. England have kept the series alive, but there were some positives for India, too, most notably the return of Mohammed Shami. This, though, wasn’t peak Shami. He bowled three overs for 25 and looked alright. But how good was it to see him back in India colours? And also, were you expecting it? A lot of us were speculating that he might miss out on the T20Is and play in the ODIs leading up to the Champions Trophy.
The series win has proved a little elusive, but there are still two more matches to go, and I’m fairly confident India will win the series. But remember, this is T20, where all kinds of topsy-turvy things happen. So one has to be prepared, as they showed in the first couple of matches that, when things got a little adverse, they found players in Abhishek Sharma, Varun Chakravarthy and Tilak Verma to win matches from fairly dire situations.
I thought Chakravarthy bowled superbly, as he has throughout the series. He has come back very strongly to clinch a place for himself in the T20 scheme of things. Remember, it’s not easy for spinners, because you got Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi and Washington Sunder. So there’s a lot of competition. And I think Chakravarthy has done well for himself. Now, does this kind of turn the spotlight on him for the 50-over format? We’ll have to wait and see. But for now, he looks secure in the T20 team.
Mohammed Shami’s comeback was much anticipated. He didn’t get any wickets and he wasn’t very impressive. But the important thing was to see him back on the field of play. My sense is that the tactic of the coach and the captain is to kind of build him up a little slowly, suss him out, see how he is faring on the field in terms of fitness as well as bowling rhythm. You can’t talk about the calibre of Shami because we know what he is capable of. But is he back in fine fettle? Is he back into rhythm, and is he fit enough to last even if it’s a T20 match? He’s on the field not just bowling the overs, but also fielding, and then he has to bat, maybe five-six deliveries. How this all plays is a matter of interest for Indian cricket going ahead.
Q/ You brought up Varun Chakravarthy, who is perhaps the biggest positive for India in this series till now. He already has 10 wickets for the series and he got a five-for in the last match. What makes him so unplayable right now?
He’s got deceptive spin. From what one hears from the commentators and the experts, he has been able to control his space. It’s not just about the flight, because if you flight too much, you might get smashed all over the park with 55-yard boundaries. So it’s about how well you control the pace and obviously, which way the ball will turn. He’s not easy to read.
If you look at the history of cricket, mystery spinners haven’t survived too long. Batters and opponents suss out such bowlers fairly easily. You know, Ajantha Mendis is a case in point. He was devastating for a year or 18 months, but after that he was sorted out.
Chakravarthy started out as a similar bowler and was figured out. But now he has made a strong comeback. He’s a far better bowler today than when he first made an impression. He’s somebody that India will do well to persist with.
There are two aspects that all these young bowlers need to work on. Batting and fielding. If you’re the old-style tail-ender, then I think that teams and coaches and captains start looking for other options.
Q/ Given that Adil Rashid was excellent yesterday, do you think that they might bring in a couple of more spinners in the remaining games? Because right now, it’s a quite a mismatch, with India playing four spinners, and England playing only one specialist.
There is a strong case for playing a spinner, or at least somebody who bowls cutters. Because obviously the pitches are not helping the fast bowlers. Even somebody with the express pace of Jofra Archer has been going for plenty. So I think they must make better use of Liam Livingstone, who is one of those bowlers who can turn the ball both ways with a slightly unorthodox action. Of course, it is not as well-controlled as some of the other spinners, but he gives you that all-round depth.
I think what they really need to get is more runs, apart from just Jos Buttler. Ben Duckett made runs in the previous match, but Harry Brook hasn’t [delivered]. Livingstone played a fairly spectacular knock, hitting all of the sixes, but he’s been inconsistent. So they need runs, and I think they also need a little bit more from their slow bowlers, apart from Adil Rashid, who may not have the wickets to show like Chakravarthy, but has been quite splendid so far.
Q/ Lastly, going forward, what more do you want to see from India? Is the Shami experiment over? Do they rest Arshdeep again? Do they bring in a couple of more batters, someone like Shivam Dube?
Suryakumar Yadav needs a big score. He has the additional responsibility of captaincy, so he’s been under a little bit of pressure. I don’t know whether Shami will get another match. I think everybody is now waiting to see the ODI series, which is where everybody’s focus will turn, because immediately after that is the Champions Trophy, and that’s really the big tournament.
Chakravarthy started out as a similar bowler and was figured out. But now he has made a strong comeback. He’s a far better bowler today than when he first made an impression. He’s somebody that India will do well to persist with.
There are two aspects that all these young bowlers need to work on. Batting and fielding. If you’re the old-style tail-ender, then I think that teams and coaches and captains start looking for other options.
Q/ Given that Adil Rashid was excellent yesterday, do you think that they might bring in a couple of more spinners in the remaining games? Because right now, it’s a quite a mismatch, with India playing four spinners, and England playing only one specialist.
There is a strong case for playing a spinner, or at least somebody who bowls cutters. Because obviously the pitches are not helping the fast bowlers. Even somebody with the express pace of Jofra Archer has been going for plenty. So I think they must make better use of Liam Livingstone, who is one of those bowlers who can turn the ball both ways with a slightly unorthodox action. Of course, it is not as well-controlled as some of the other spinners, but he gives you that all-round depth.
I think what they really need to get is more runs, apart from just Jos Buttler. Ben Duckett made runs in the previous match, but Harry Brook hasn’t [delivered]. Livingstone played a fairly spectacular knock, hitting all of the sixes, but he’s been inconsistent. So they need runs, and I think they also need a little bit more from their slow bowlers, apart from Adil Rashid, who may not have the wickets to show like Chakravarthy, but has been quite splendid so far.
Q/ Lastly, going forward, what more do you want to see from India? Is the Shami experiment over? Do they rest Arshdeep again? Do they bring in a couple of more batters, someone like Shivam Dube?
Suryakumar Yadav needs a big score. He has the additional responsibility of captaincy, so he’s been under a little bit of pressure. I don’t know whether Shami will get another match. I think everybody is now waiting to see the ODI series, which is where everybody’s focus will turn, because immediately after that is the Champions Trophy, and that’s really the big tournament.
