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India’s pace bowling for WT20: Who will play? | India have wide range of seamers to choose from in T20 cricket: Who will be picked for WT20?
The Covid-19 pandemic might have hampered the Indian team’s ideal preparations for the forthcoming World T20. That coupled with several situations around the injuries and availability of key players means that the team is still figuring its ideal combination in the shortest format of the game.
The Virat Kohli-led men do not have any scheduled T20Is ahead of the World T20 either. However, they still have the Indian Premier League (IPL) to look forward to and thereby draw an appropriate playing XI, considering a fully fit squad at disposal.
One of the major conundrums, a rather positive one though, the team will come across is the arsenal of pacers that team India has at its disposal in the T20 cricket. The sheer depth of pacers that the setup has currently means that they will play different combinations in almost every format.
In the series vs England itself, the team had options like Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shardul Thakur, Navdeep Saini, Deepak Chahar and a back-again Hardik Pandya to choose from. Jasprit Bumrah will lead the attack upon his return and T Natarajan will put a strong claim for a ticket to the World Cup squad, too.
The Indian team also tried out Mohammed Shami in the previous T20I series vs Australia late last year. With the IPL round the corner, one can always expect some or the other pacer to emerge and catch the selectors’ eye straightaway. From the current pool, the probable options are: Bhuvneshwar, Bumrah, Pandya, Saini, Natarajan, D Chahar, Shami.
Out of these picks, one can safely assume the initial three players to make it to the final squad. Hardik and Bumrah are invaluable assets without a shed of doubt and Bhuvneshwar will make the cut due to his experience, skillset and consistently impressive performances, provided that he remains fit. He was superb in the final T20I, which is a big boost.
Ideally, if a 15-member squad is picked, one would expect only one additional pacer to make it to final list. This is keeping in mind the pattern observed in the 2019 World Cup when Shami was the third frontline pacer behind Bhuvneshwar and Bumrah. Hardik’s induction provides India the flexibility of playing another all-rounder instead of a specialist pacer.
However, there could be a chance of lengthened squads owing to the prevailing Covid-19 situation. This will allow India to include extra pacers but considering the opposite situation, we are in quite an interesting spot.
Saini brings raw pace to the fore whereas Natarajan’s death-bowling skills make him an ideal partner for Bumrah towards the rear end of the innings. Deepak Chahar’s control with the new-ball and his variations along with Shami’s overall experience, pace and ability to hit the hard length gives a well-rounded, comprehensive shape to the Indian bowling unit.
Navdeep Saini used to primarily be the first-choice pacer amongst the reserve lot. His express pace allowed him to rush the batsmen into committing error-prone shots. Moreover, his overall height provided him an incisive advantage to bowl the short-of-good-length, which is considered to be integral to stop the opposition’s flow of runs in the middle-overs. However, the fast-bowler had an utterly disappointing IPL 2020 as he scalped only six wickets in 13 games at a strike rate of 45.67 and economy rate of 8.3. Batsmen looked to have worked a way around India’s latest find and he didn’t have a sparkling ODI series in Australia either.
On the other hand, Deepak Chahar had a bright start to his international career and seemed to have kept his spot in the squad at least through his spectacular performances in the series vs Bangladesh in late 2019. The medium pacer had claimed six wickets conceding only seven runs against the neighbouring country at Nagpur and looked all set to continue in the team thereafter. However, long injury layoffs have hampered his case thereafter. With Bhuvneshwar looking to have regained his mojo, there are also questions over whether the team will like to fit in a bowler of a similar kind and approach in limited vacancies? Maybe not, irrespective of Chahar’s enticing pinch-hitting skills too.
The picks probably boil down to either Shardul Thakur or T Natarajan.
Thakur has been brilliant in the shortest format ever since his return to the setup in the series vs Sri Lanka in January 2019. His bowling might not find many admirers, but Thakur’s unperturbable attitude and temperament have allowed him to probably punch above his weight in international cricket. He brought India back into the series vs England by scalping the key wickets of Eoin Morgan and Ben Stokes in the fourth T20I, when the duo looked comfortable to lead the visitors to a series victory. There have been countless such instances previously too, perhaps proving out to be a testament to Shardul’s influential impact in games irrespective of his rather inferior skillsets as compared to other pacers in this list.
Analysts, the number geeks might not like it, but the sports functions in more ways than one. And Shardul might just be here to stay in the India T20 team, deservingly so.
However, can he edge over T Natarajan? Arguably, no.
Natarajan is a yorker specialist and all of that. But, he is also a left-armed pacer and a brilliant one at that. He had an excellent debut T20I series in Australia, picking up six wickets in three matches at a wonderful economy rate of 6.92. He had earned 16 dismissals in 16 IPL matches in 2020 at an economy rate of 8.02 and a laudable death-overs record. The Indian limited-overs team has been in the quest for an impactful left-arm pacer for long. They have tried luck with the likes of Barinder Singh Bran, Khaleel Ahmed and Jaydev Unadkat to varying degrees of outcomes in the past. However, none of them turned out to be as noteworthy as Natarajan, especially in a testing tour to Down Under.
Closer to the World Cup, India might have to answer a difficult question.
Whether to go for the undeniable, prodigious talent of Natarajan or the unfettered, commendable attitude of Thakur that has reaped rich dividends so far? The sport often puts think-tanks in such a spot. Neither of the picks would be incorrect. However, one of them might just turn out to have ‘that’ cutting edge advantage over the other. That slightly greater value is what needs to be tapped upon by the men in-charge. Let’s see who the management decides to place their bets on!
Written by Tarkesh Jha. Follow Tarkesh on Twitter today.
