“Matlab Abhishek ki jagah khilau? (Should I play him instead of Abhishek?)”, “matlab Tilak ki jagah khilau? (You mean in place of Tilak?). “Suryakumar Yadav was shocked and broke into instant laughter when asked about the possibility of Sanju Samson replacing either Abhishek Sharma or Tilak Varma in India’s Playing XI for the T20 World Cup Super Eight clash against South Africa. Social media rumour mills were working overtime, connecting dots from Samson’s extended net session, but the Indian captain ruled that possibility out for the contest in Ahmedabad on February 22.
“It’s going well in power play. We’re making 50-40 runs. That’s normal cricket. Now we’ve played so well in bilateral. It happens – we have expectations, we also have expectations from ourselves. Expectation to make 220, 240, 250.
But wickets are a little different here. The four wickets we have played on so far were a little different and challenging. Off-spinners were not bowling earlier but are now. So we have started preparation for that and hopefully we will tackle it as we start our Super Eight journey,” added Surya.
India had an extended hit at the Narendra Modi Stadium on February 20 and Sanju’s extended grind wasn’t an anomaly. Every player in the squad trained for over four hours.
Sanju also followed the routine, which involved swapping nets, exchanging partners, and using the training area near the main enclosure for skill-based work.
Few eyebrows were raised when Abhishek batted for only around 20 minutes but the management isn’t panicking about the belligerent opener’s form or his tournament tally remaining at zero after three innings.
“About Abhishek’s form, I worry for the people who are worried about Abhishek’s form, I worry about them.
Why are they so worried about Abhishek’s form? But I think about those teams who are going to play against him. That he has not yet scored a run. You know the rest of the answers. When he scores a run, you have seen what happens.
“It happens, it’s a team sport, it keeps going on. Now the team has a requirement that the boy should play with his identity. So he is trying to play. If it happens, then it’s fine, if it doesn’t, then we are there to cover.
Last year he covered for us, now we will cover for him,” said Surya when asked about the concern surrounding the left-hander.
Apart from the poor starts, the middle-overs period is where the opposition has managed to suck momentum out of India’s innings. The pair of Tilak Varma and Suryakumar Yadav have operated with a very cautious undertone. Much of the criticism has gone Tilak’s way with even calls for his removal from the Playing XI.
Like it has been in Abhishek’s case, the thinktank will follow the same patient route and Surya asserted that India’s No. 3 is batting as per the plan. The 23-year-old has accumulated 106 runs in four outings but the issue isn’t the runs; it’s the mediocre strike-rate of 120. 45 which has put him in the firing line.
“The team management has told him that he has to bat that way. If one wicket is down, then he is definitely, he can go and have his own game in the powerplay.
But as soon as two wickets are down, then he has to take a little bit of backseat, get a partnership again, get to the 10th over and then we have enough firepower to continue and take on the bowling.
“I am sure he must not be happy with how he is batting right now. He must be and he has practised a lot as well in the last 2-3 practice sessions. But I don’t have any concern regarding him. He has been delivering for India at No. 3 really well and I am very confident that he will do it better,” explained Surya, throwing weight behind the youngster.
When India began the new T20I cycle under head coach
Gautam Gambhir and captain Surya, flexibility and intent remained the keyword. As they got closer to the tournament, the flexibility, which didn’t apply to the openers, saw No. 3 and No. 4 get added to the list as Tilak and Surya were frozen for those positions.
While the bilaterals got success, the sticky and tacky surfaces in the T20 World Cup has begged a pertinent question – do India need to revisit the entry points for its lower order featuring the likes of
Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube and Rinku Singh? Surya seems open to the idea and hinted at promoting either Dube or Pandya if the team feels it’s necessary. The openers’ start and the match-ups will be the deciding factors for that call.
“Except the openers, I think from 3 to 7 or 3 to 8 everyone has to be very flexible and that has been the message in the group, that if there is no wicket down till 8 or 9 overs, there might be a point where you might see Shivam Dubey walking in or even a Hardik walking in, if there is a proper match up. So everyone has to be very flexible, even I am flexible, I have said the same thing to everyone.
So if we get into that situation, we will definitely have it and take that call,” said Surya.
Under the unforgiving sun, Surya spent significant time with
Ishan Kishan and Rinku Singh during the team’s optional practice session. The three had a long chat under the umbrella after the left-handers finished their hit. Regular cheers erupted during the discussion as teammates aggressively cheered Kuldeep Yadav’s every big hit. For the rest, it was time to put their feet up before the business end of the tournament begins.
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