While M.S. Dhoni has probably had his fairy-tale swansong with IPL 2023, the two-month-long tournament has raised a number of questions, from whether it would prove too tiring an overture to a tough season ahead to the shelf life remaining of once indispensable greats. With the World Test Championship final, Asia Cup and the ODI World Cup knocking on the door, My Kolkata looks at five questions posed by this year’s IPL that the national men's cricket team need to address.
Where does Yashasvi Jaiswal play?
(L-R) Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal
The opener who has cemented his place across formats is Shubman Gill. With 890 runs in this IPL, including three centuries, he is in the form of his life and drawing comparisons with all-time greats. As of now, skipper Rohit Sharma will be the batter at the other end. But this choice inevitably brings to mind the name of Yashasvi Jaiswal. The southpaw was the Emerging Player of IPL 2023 after scoring 625 runs. He has been called to the WTC camp in England, but in all probability, will not get his national Test cap on Wednesday. If Jaiswal has to find his place in the Asia Cup and the World Cup teams, he will have to be installed in the top order. Since Gill and Sharma will not be disturbed in the short term, Jaiswal will have to come after them. Can he do as well lower down the order as he has an opener, a position that his IPL coach Kumar Sangakkara has dedicatedly nurtured him to hold (to the extent of shifting Devdutt Padikkal down the order)? Should he even be considered as a No. 3 when Virat Kohli is there?
Who are the other batters?
Shikhar Dhawan and Ruturaj Gaikwad
The Jaiswal issue is but an overture to the persistent top-order logjam that the national team has been grappling with for a while. K.L. Rahul's absence has brought back Ajinkya Rahane in the Test mix after his explosive cameos in IPL 2023. On the ODI front, newbies Jaiswal and Ruturaj Gaikwad, and ICC tournament veteran Shikhar Dhawan will vie for a place with Shreyas Iyer and Rahul. If Gill, Sharma, Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya are certainties in the team, the new faces of Tilak Varma and Rinku Singh do not get a look in. All of them might get chances, with the team playing the West Indies and the Asia Cup before the World Cup, no one might get an extended run. Choosing the best batting order for the World Cup might turn out to be uncomfortably close to a game of Eeny Meeny Miny Moe.
Who keeps the wickets?
Ishan Kishan and KS Bharat
Once we had MSD who had made all questions about wicketkeeper selection moot. Rishabh Pant with his own rich share of heroics was proving an able successor when he met with a horrible accident. Ishan Kishan is his replacement in the WTC final, ahead of veteran Wriddhiman Saha, but few are at ease about his choice. And Kishan’s ordinary IPL did not help here. The other option is K.S. Bharat, who has been sub par with his batting. Pant is recovering, but might not be match fit for a few months. With Rahul also out of the equation for a similar duration, it will mostly be Kishan and Bharat across formats. Kishan proving his mettle at The Oval is the best Indian cricket fans can hope for… until Pant dons the gloves again.
Who returns to the team?
(Clockwise from top left) Rishabh Pant, Jasprit Bumrah, Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul
The four names on the top of the list are Jasprit Bumrah, Pant, Rahul and Iyer. Three of them could not play IPL 2023, while Rahul pulled out midway following an injury. Even if all four are fit for the World Cup, they would be returning after long lay-offs. India may or may not miss Iyer and Rahul in the WTC final, but they are certainly ruing the absence of Pant and Bumrah. Their predicted return around the Asia Cup would be almost 10-12 months after their last match. Given the extent of their injuries, expecting them to be back in top form immediately might be unfair.
Ravichandran Ashwin or Shardul Thakur or Axar Patel?
(L-R) Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur and Axar Patel
With the introduction of the impact player rule in the IPL this year, many argue that all-rounders have become less important. But not for Rahul Dravid, who has to make a tough choice of all-rounder in the WTC final. None of the three had a laudable IPL. The pace-friendly track at the Oval might tilt the scales in favour of Thakur, but dropping Ashwin, one of the standout Test performers in the last few years, is always tough. Complicating the decision further is Axar’s IPL 2023 performance, more fluent than Shardul’s, both with the bat and ball. With Ravindra Jadeja cementing his place across formats, it will be interesting to see how Dravid and Sharma crack the code of playing another all-rounder in addition to Jadeja and Hardik Pandya.
