Shamik Chakrabarty in Dubai
The left continues to be right for the Indian team. In their Champions Trophy opener against Bangladesh, the ploy didn’t work. But make no mistake, the team management isn’t going to shun it going ahead.
Yet again, Axar Patel was sent ahead of KL Rahul at No. 5. Shreyas Iyer got out to Mustafizur Rahman in the 28th over, but it was far from panic stations for India. They had lost only their third wicket and the asking rate was still a very comfortable 4.30.
Rishad Hossain, a leg-spinner, was operating from one end for Bangladesh and he was bowling well. The pitch was slow and the ball was gripping a bit. Purely from a tactical point of view, sending a left-hander to counter leg-spin made sense, but Axar has his limitations as a batsman. His batting contributions in white-ball cricket of late – and there have been a few – notwithstanding, the 31-year-old doesn’t have the range of a specialist batsman, especially in conditions where the bowlers are in the game. Against Hossain, the slog-sweep had to be his go-to shot.
It was pretty predictable for Bangladesh and they set the field accordingly. Unlike the majority of the Indian grounds, the playing arena at the Dubai International Stadium, with bigger square boundaries, gives spinners a fair chance. No wonder that Hossain trapped Axar on the slog-sweep, with the batsman aiming to clear the deep mid-wicket fence but getting elevation rather than the distance. A caught-and-bowled ensued.
Rahul came and played the situation, which was the need of the hour. Also, he is someone who plays spin well. An attempted slog against Taskin Ahmed was an aberration. But Jaker Ali floored the chance at deep square leg. Rahul was on nine then and his dismissal could have brought Bangladesh back into the game. Shubman Gill walked up to his batting partner and had a word with him. Rahul quickly got his act together. He went on to score 41 not out off 47 balls and added 87 runs in an unbroken fifth wicket partnership with the excellent Gill to pull off the chase. Rahul obviously looked a better option than Axar in tricky conditions.
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At the post-match presentation, Rohit Sharma praised Rahul, describing the latter’s innings as a “composed” one. That’s what Rahul is good at, playing composed knocks. And this begs the question: is it really necessary to tinker with his batting order at the drop of a hat?
The Indian team used Axar as a floater at the T20 World Cup too. But that was a different format. Before the Champions Trophy, Gautam Gambhir made it clear that the team management would do it in the ODIs as well.
“That’s the way cricket is meant to be played,” the head coach had said at the post-match press conference in Ahmedabad, after India’s 3-0 ODI series win against England. “I know a lot of people talked about it, but that’s the way we’ve got to play the game and that’s the way cricket should be played. It’s not about the batting order. It’s about who can create what impact. If you have the option of putting in a quality left-hander in the middle, why wouldn’t you do that?
“Why would you want to have the top five as right-handers? We don’t look at averages and stats, and all that stuff. We look at who can deliver more at that number, and Axar has done fabulously well. (So) that’s the way we want to go in the future as well.”
Can Axar create a bigger impact than a specialist batsman when the bowlers are asking tough questions on a favourable surface? The team management clearly believes he can. At same time, Gambhir & Co will have to be careful that their left-right obsession doesn’t become non-negotiable.
Also Read: Shubman Gill – A byword for excellence in the ODI format
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