India stand a fair chance of beginning the new year with a series win if they beat Sri Lanka in the second and penultimate T20I at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune on Thursday.
But before that, they need to analyse their top-order batting again as it continued to look for responses in the series opener in Mumbai in spite of sporting a relatively new look.
Ishan Kishan was solid and steady at the top, but the rest weren’t too inspiring. With such a short gap between the games, a drastic improvement overnight isn’t very easy. But if India want to make sure they don’t want the series to be open till the final game on Saturday, the time is ripe for Suryakumar Yadav to produce a trademark difference-making knock and shut the door on the Sri Lankans.
On Tuesday evening, Surya got going with an excellently-timed back-foot off-drive that yielded him a boundary. After a few dot balls, Surya, trying to break the shackles, attempted his favourite ramp shot that has earned him lots of runs. But his biggest strength brought about his downfall.
For a change, Surya couldn’t get the execution right and holed out at short fine-leg off Chamika Karunaratne. But considering the batting line-up, which is a tad short on experience, a typical Surya-like knock by the Mumbai batter should certainly make matters easier for captain Hardik Pandya and the rest of the group.
Besides, if Surya clicks, that could well ease the situation for Kishan, who had done his best to put the opposition bowlers under pressure and utilise the Powerplay overs. But the fall of wickets at the other end kept disturbing the wicketkeeper-batsman’s composure as he eventually perished at the deep.
Samson ruled out
It has been just one game so far in the year, and the team management shouldn’t be looking to tweak much as far as the team composition is concerned. However, with Sanju Samson ruled out of the remainder of the series after hurting his left knee while fielding during the opening game, India may bring in Rahul Tripathi at the No.4 slot.
Vidarbha keeper-batter Jitesh Sharma replaces Samson, who has been advised rest and rehabilitation.
Promoting Deepak Hooda, Man of the Match in the first T20I for his crucial unbeaten 41, is another option. But after playing the finisher’s role to a nicety along with Axar Patel at the Wankhede, continuing with Hooda at No.6 appears to be a wiser move.
Hooda himself too seems comfortable in batting at such a position.
“When you are batting lower down the order at No.6, being a cricketer, you have to be ready for such a situation. A collapse can happen at any time,” Hooda said at the news conference on Tuesday.
“So that is the role of a No.6 and No.7 batter, be it the first or the second match.”
Bowling-wise, India need to decide whether Arshdeep Singh, if he is fit to play, returns to the XI. Both Shivam Mavi and Umran Malik did an impressive job in Mumbai. But in order to accommodate Arshdeep, it would be quite unfair to drop Mavi in particular, after his match-winning effort (4/22) on debut.
Leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal’s form could also be a concern.
