There has been so much hoo-ha following India’s first defeat in the World Cup against England. Left to some former stars, they would have announced national mourning!
The morning after, it was revealed that Vijay Shankar’s toe injury was not a ‘niggle’ as Virat Kohli claimed at the toss, but serious enough for him to miss the tournament.
The orchestrated attack on MS Dhoni, in particular, suggests that India could have chased down the 338-run target without batting an eyelid. One went to the extent of saying Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav should have thrown their wickets away so that someone else could have tried to get to the target.
Like players, some former players also seem to be in the T20 mindset, having mentored IPL teams before coming to London.
What could be the reason for Dhoni and Jadhav not throwing their wickets away? Clearly, some thinking and discussions must have gone on before pulling the shutters. They were surely looking at the net run rate, just in case. That’s not bad thinking. Certainly, getting more than two runs a ball was not easy against bowlers who were bowling 140km plus mixing it intelligently with 120km-110km slower ones.
Now the chant is to drop Jadhav against Bangladesh to play Ravindra Jadeja, forgetting that the Pune batsman hardly got to build an innings. He also hit a match-winning 52 against Afghanistan. If Jadeja has to be brought in, it has to be in place of Yuzvendra Chahal or Kuldeep Yadav, who need recuperation after the loss.
Did the Indians miss a trick by not playing a third seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar? They might have felt so at the toss when they exchanged the playing XI, seeing England playing Liam Plunkett in place of Moeen Ali. India should have realised that this was not the ground, where the boundary on one side was terribly short, for a spinner to buy wickets. The result was Chahal being hit for 88, a record for an Indian bowler in the World Cup. Kuldeep was a shade better as he took a wicket, conceding 72.
The selectors and the management have different ideas about replacements, but in such situations, the management gets away with what it wants. Whomsoever’s decision it is, Mayank Agarwal is joining in place of Vijay, and not Ambati Rayudu, who again missed out, obviously for his imprudent wisecrack at chief selector MSK Prasad more than his poor form in the IPL.
When Shikhar Dhawan broke his thumb, Rishabh Pant was sent in as a replacement to make it three wicketkeepers in the squad apart from Dhoni and Dinesh Karthik, who it was said, was preferred for his experience! And when the first opportunity arose to play someone in the middle-order, Pant was picked, not Karthik.
There is a list of stand-bys announced along with the squad — two batsmen, Rayudu and Pant, two bowlers Ishant Sharma and Navdeep Saini, and all-rounder Axar Patel. Normally, Rayudu should have got the nod to bat at No 4 with Rahul continuing to open.
Now that Agarwal is the chosen replacement for the Men in Blue, he might be asked to open, bringing Rahul back to No 4. That would again be unfair to Pant, who chanced his arm when quick runs were required even though he looked rattled playing in his first World Cup game.
(The writer is a veteran commentator and the views expressed are personal. He can be reached at sveturi@gmail.com)