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India lost their first five-match T20 International series, but Tilak Varma has been the find for Men In Blue in the shortest format of the game. Be it his fearless batting approach or the ability to roll the arm over against left-handers, he is a package that the country has been looking for.
With captain Hardik Pandya, Sanju Samson and spin-all-rounder Axar Patel failing to live up to the expectations, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Mukesh Kumar made their case for T20 World Cup in 2024.
Here are the five takeaways for India from this series:
Tilak Varma’s ability to adapt, dominate and counter-attack
Varma was touted as the next big thing by Rohit Sharma at the end of the 2023 IPL. And the Southpaw grabbed the opportunities with both hands during the West Indies tour. Varma hit 173 runs in five innings at an outstanding average of 57.66 and a strike rate of 140.65.
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His ability to soak in the pressure and counterattack by coming in at number three makes him best suited in the Indian set-up. He also provides a left-right combination in the middle which is crucial if India are to open with Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in future.
Varma's fearless approach even impressed head coach Rahul Dravid. The Indian head coach heaped praises on the youngster, saying “Tilak Varma, I thought, was really good, to come in in the middle order. Every time, he plays with a lot of intent, plays very positively, looks to move the game along, fielded brilliantly throughout the series, and showed us he can bowl one or two overs as well.
So positive signs from Tilak and to have that left-hander in the middle order does make a huge difference against some of the attacks that we've been playing against.”
Yashavi Jaiswal’s no-fear approach
After making superb Test debut, Jaiswal shook the sleepy town of Lauderhill with his mesmerising stroke play in his second T20 game. During his unbeaten 84-run innings, Jaiswal exhibited an array of shots, showing he is ready for a long-run in international cricket. His impactful knock helped India level the series, which they eventually lost.
After his match-winning knock, Jaiswal said, “I want to keep doing and building on it. I'm happy today but I want to make sure that I'm ready for tomorrow also.”
The Mumbailar even got a lot of praise from form West Indies captain Ramnaresh Sarwan.“Jaiswal has been an excellent find for India and so is Gill. This does prove that Indian cricket is well-placed and in good hands. So, interesting times ahead for Indian cricket,” Sarwan was quoted as saying to The Telegraph.
Shubman Gill wakes up from the slumber
It was hoped that after a fantastic IPL 2023 where he won the Orange Cap (most runs), Shubman Gill will finally awaken and grab the opportunity to become India’s permanent opener in the shortest format. However, he played some loose shots and could not convert starts in the first three matches of the series.
But to Gill, those shots were not mistakes. “I felt I wasn't making a mistake in any of the three matches. But I couldn't convert my starts,” Gill said after hitting a blistering 77 in the fourth match. And finally came out of slumber, a much-needed knock for India's future prospective.
“The way Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill bat in tandem; they can bat for each other as well and they need to find that space. If they do, they are going to be a very dangerous pair for India in years to come. They can be something as great as Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly opening the batting,” Uthapp said during the Jiocinema broadcast of the series.
Mukesh Kumar can handle death bowling pressure
Mukesh Kumar, who became only the second player after T Natarajan to debut in all three formats on one tour, has captured the imagination of not just the cricket fans, but also the team members. Though Mukesh doesn’t have the numbers to back his ability, getting only three wickets in five games at an economy of 8.8, but he bowled mostly in death overs.
Dravid also recognised his contribution and said, "his ability to bowl at the death, sometimes he was called upon to bowl against some big powerful hard hitters and he acquitted himself well for someone who was just playing his fourth or fifth game."
India's bowling coach Paras Mhabrey too was impressed by Mukesh who had figures of 1/25 in the fourth T20 when he bowled all his three overs at the death. “Going forward, since we know he is capable of playing all three formats, we need to be smart with his workload management. He has played a lot of domestic cricket, and got quality skills out there,” Mhambrey said.
Sanju Samson wastes another chance
The biggest failure though was Sanju Samson. It was a constant complaint from his fans and some former cricketers that Samson doesn't get a consistent run. With World Cup just a few months away and the wicket-keeper's slot up for grabs in Rishabh Pant's absence, Sanju not only failed to convert his starts in the ODI series but made no use of the three chances he got in the T20 series.
In the first game, ho got dismissed in an unfortunate way but he threw his wicket away in the second, dancing down the track. While in the fifth match, he played a nothing shot to get out. In all three games, he came in a situation where he could have become the hero as India were under pressure. But he didn't carry any responsibility as a senior member of the batting unit.
Sanju though reached 6000 T20 runs during the series, but made only 32 runs at an average of 10.66.
