Shamik Chakrabarty at Eden Gardens
The best thing about India’s T20I side is that it doesn’t have any ensconced deadwood. It doesn’t have any big egos and the dressing-room is seemingly free of negative vibes. It has youngsters like Abhishek Sharma who manifest the irreverence of youth.
Fear of failure is not a part of this dressing-room culture, as attested by Abhishek, and also Sanju Samson, in the first T20I against England at Eden Gardens on Wednesday. Sanju set up the chase with a cameo (26 off 20). Abhishek took the game away from the opposition with a blistering 79 off 34 balls that had five fours and eight sixes.
Over 13 matches, Abhishek’s T20I strike-rate is 183.06. Mind, he was also dismissed under 20 in eight of his 12 innings. After scoring a 47-ball 100 against Zimbabwe in Harare in July last year, the 24-year-old had a string of low scores until he hammered a half-century against South Africa at Centurion four months later. With Yashasvi Jaiswal waiting in the wings, Abhishek might always be under pressure to perform. But he threw caution to the wind. “I have always thought to be a team player,” he said at the post-match press conference.
Validation came from Sanjay Manjrekar, the former India batsman, who wrote on X (formerly Twitter): “Loving this from New India! No fear cricket. No fascination for individual 50s etc. Selfless cricketer, always (a) dangerous cricketer in T20s.”
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The word, selfless, has become fashionable in Indian cricket of late. What Gautam Gambhir and Suryakumar Yadav’s band of boys have been doing in the shortest format is actually called ‘selfless’ cricket.
Players need the right environment to play unfettered cricket. Credit to Gambhir and Suryakumar, the head coach and T20I captain respectively, that they have given players the allowance to go about their tasks without looking over their shoulder. Abhishek said as much.
“When Suryakumar bhai and Gautam paaji told me to keep my attacking intent, that was a big moment for me,” he said. “In India, there will always be a lot of competition (in terms of selecting players) in our senior team.
“As a batsman, if you don’t score runs in three-four-five innings, that can play on your mind. But the way the coach and captain manage all the players, even when they aren’t doing well, that’s a big positive. When they say, ‘you are going to win the game for us, just go and express yourself’, that seriously gives you confidence and you back yourself.”
Abhishek spoke about how Yuvraj Singh, Brian Lara, Daniel Vettori and now Gambhir have contributed to his growth as a cricketer. He had words of praise for India’s new batting coach Sitanshu Kotak, the way the latter helped him prepare for the game.
The Shami question
Throughout the press conference, Abhishek oozed confidence, like his batting. But the question on Mohammed Shami’s omission caught him a little off guard. He is too young to be part of the leadership group and doesn’t take decisions.
And yet, what he said gave a clear indication that the veteran fast bowler’s omission from the playing XI in the first T20I was tactical and not fitness-related. “The team management went with the combination that suited the conditions,” said Abhishek. “That’s how I see it.”
India went with three spinners and Arshdeep Singh as the lone specialist fast bowler. It proved to be a tactical masterstroke. It also suggested that when Jasprit Bumrah is not playing, Arshdeep is the team’s No. 1 seamer in white-ball cricket.
For the record, the left-arm quick returned with 2/17 from four overs to become India’s leading T20I wicket-taker, surpassing Yuzvendra Chahal. Arshdeep now has 97 scalps from 61 matches.
Also Read: India feed off the matchless Eden Gardens vibe
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