CHENNAI: And just like that, India have won another bilateral T20I series. This time, in Zimbabwe by a 4-1 margin, one week after winning the biggest trophy in the format. As India beat Zimbabwe by 42 runs in the final T20I on Sunday, captain Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal were the top two run-scorers with 170 and 142 runs, respectively. With the ball, Mukesh Kumar (8) and Washington Sundar (8) stole the show.
Keeping all this aside, if one has to look at what India have gained in terms of their future T20I team, there aren’t that many answers. For starters, Gill, who has expressed his interest to open in both white-ball formats, despite finishing with the highest tally, struck at a strike rate of 125.92. This comes in contrast to the philosophy that the Rohit Sharma-led side adopted in the title-winning T20 World Cup campaign.
Not to mention the fact that he falls short in that aspect in comparison with his own teammates — Jaiswal (165.8), Abhishek Sharma (174.6), Ruturaj Gaikwad (158.3). Now, one could pin it down to Gill’s approach in the format, but there are some questions about the playing XI India fielded through the series. The Men in Blue fielded at least three openers in all games, and four in as many as three T20Is.
And all of the aforementioned openers batted in the top four. Going forward, the top two slots are something India will need answers for, and that is perhaps the thinking behind playing all of them. However, in slotting someone like Gaikwad at four and Abhishek at three, India had fewer middle-order options left, where there are already a few players in waiting.
Yes, Abhishek and Jaiswal have made the most of the chances and so has Gaikwad to an extent, but when the full strength team returns only two of the four openers will have a place. After all, India will still have Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya and Shivam Dube in the middle-order with Rinku Singh and Sanju Samson in waiting.
Samson, in this series, had a chance to bat twice and he hit a fifty and an unbeaten 12 in the death overs. Rinku, meanwhile, had four innings with 60 runs to show at 176.47 SR. Perhaps, the only, and the most important, positive for India is the way Washington performed. Having been in and out of the set up for three years, the off-spinner finished the series with the Player of the Series award. More than with the bat, his role was with the ball. It was a chance for him to make a case for the vacuum Ravindra Jadeja had left in the lower-order and the all-rounder made the most of it.
That being said, there is a new captain in the format and a new coach for the team. And only time will tell where Hardik Pandya and Gautam Gambhir take the T20I side going forward. We will have a better idea only during the Sri Lanka tour. For now, India have yet another bilateral win that showcases their talent pool and dominance that might be of little consequence in the larger scheme of things. Brief scores: India 167/6 in 20 ovs (Samson 58; Blessing 2/19) bt Zimbabwe 125 for 18.3 ovs (Marumani 27, Myers 34; Mukesh 4/22, Dube 2/25).