Visakhapatnam: Every team has a certain template that they want to follow and India’s go-to T20 template is to be uber aggressive. So far, in the series against New Zealand, it had clearly worked
Coaches have theories. Gambhir has mainly two. One, never compromise on batting depth. The other, every player can bat or bowl anywhere.
On Wednesday, much to the chagrin of an almost capacity crowd at Visakhapatnam, the second theory fell flat.
One of the great debates in T20 cricket is whether role clarity matters more than flexibility. India had raced 3-0 up in the series, with immense role clarity. They unfailingly persevered with the cover of a batting option down at No 8 even after several injuries in the squad. It gave the top order the licence to explode, to the middle order to keep up the tempo even when wickets fell in a bunch.
Wanting to challenge the players more in the 4th T20I, India took off that protection cover for the batters, and made-a-note-to-self, that only five specialist bowlers would bowl – Hardik Pandya and Shivam Dube did not bowl.
These are extreme situations they might face in the World Cup, which they might have wanted to prepare for. They might argue that a result wasn’t necessary here. The counter to that may be that winning is a happy habit to keep. As it turned out, despite Shivam Dube’s quickfire 65 (23b, 3×4,7×6), India fell 50 runs short of New Zealand’s total of 215.
For once, India experimented so much that they almost made it too difficult for themselves. Yes, Shreyas Iyer was not going to be required in the World Cup. But not having a regular No 3, left them with a hole that impacted batting all the way down the order. Suryakumar Yadav had to come in to face the Kiwi quicks early after Abhishek’s first ball duck and he looked half the player he is with the new ball doing, just enough.
Sanju Samson, under pressure to keep his place, was challenged further with India losing two quick wickets. Having survived the early spell from quicks, Mitch Santner found him standing unusually outside leg stump in stance, and cleaned his stumps for 24 (15b), beating him in flight.
Rinku Singh had to walk in at No 4. And while he is perfectly capable, being forced to bat out of position, chasing a tall total without batting depth, proved to be an unnecessary handicap. Hardik had an off day, and but for Dube’s thrilling 29-run take down of Ish Sodhi in the 12th over, India did not have any further moments with the bat.
For New Zealand, Tim Seifert 62 (36, 7×4,3×6) came out like a man in a hurry. Adventurous to the extreme, the right hander showed clear intent of scooping the fast bowlers when he could. When they bowled, full, he swung long, hard and straight. Arshdeep beat him twice in a row, but he got back-to-back edged boundaries behind the wickets.
New Zealand had come determined to pick a leaf out of India’s playbook. And they succeeded. 71/0 was their best Powerplay ever against India.
When Seifert was punishing the pacers, Devon Conway was a mute spectator. He came to life as soon as Ravi Bishnoi and Kuldeep Yadav were introduced. A quickfire 22-ball 44 as he finally got his slog sweeps going would have given the out-of-form left hander some confidence. For India, Bishnoi being bested by Conway, a match-up to his googlies – 28 runs came off his first two overs and he finished with 4-0-49-1 – is something the backroom would have marked for improvement.
On what was a fairly expensive outing for Indian bowlers, among positives were Bumrah and Arshdeep’s showings in the middle overs. Bumrah (10th over) got Rachin Ravindra out first ball with a slower ball and Arshdeep (13th over) bowled a quality 2-run over with mix ups of pace, getting Seifert in the process. For a rainy day on the bigger stage, these options may come in handy.
Harshit Rana (4-0-54-0) wasn’t effective in any phase. Every bowler went for plenty, but Kuldeep Yadav, who has experienced some stick off late, would take heart from the two wickets he got.
Bumrah who tested the batters with his first three overs, finally lost the death overs face-off to Daryl Mitchell, going for 19 runs. Mitchell’s 39* (18b) late onslaught gave the Kiwis just the cheer they were after. The two teams will head to the final T20I in Thiruvananthapuram, with India’s lead reduced to 3-1 and plenty of lessons learnt.
