CHENNAI: On Monday, a video from the KSCA ‘B’ grounds in Bengaluru shared on social media went viral. The video involved three prominent cricketers: KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer, who can be seen batting in the middle, and the third was Rishabh Pant, who actually recorded the clip and shared it on his Instagram.
Less than a year ago, the three were integral parts of the Indian middle-order (anywhere between 4-6). Now, Pant is out of action for the World Cup after that gruesome and unfortunate accident last year. The other two were actually involved in match simulation in the video, racing against the clock to get fit for the Asia Cup and the global event.
Rahul has been out of action since the IPL due to a thigh injury, while Shreyas was sidelined even before due to a back injury. In the meantime, the Indian team management has tried to find replacements/back-ups to fill in the vacant slots but after the West Indies series, one is still not clear about the direction in which they are going.
One has to keep in mind that some slots are almost fixed. The top three of the first XI in ODIs is set. Rohit Sharma, Shubhman Gill and Virat Kohli. Hardik Pandya has his place sorted in No. 5/6, which leaves two vacant spots. The bottom half of the playing XI is likely to include either Ravindra Jadeja or Axar Patel, one more spinner and three pacers.
In Indian conditions, R Ashwin also could be a handful and cannot be discounted. If all goes well, one could see Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah, who will be making a comeback in Ireland later this week walk into those positions.
Which is why, how Bumrah, and Prasidh Krishna, who is also coming back from an injury, fare in the T20Is against Ireland will be of monumental importance. If either of them go down, the options at hand seem to be Shardul Thakur, Umran Malik and Mukesh Kumar.
Which brings the question back to the contentious No. 4 slot and one more batting option in the middle-order. Make no mistake, the Indian team tried Suryakumar Yadav at 4, but it didn't work. Sanju Samson, too, did not make an impact. And by the look of it, the team management seems keen on making Yadav work at No. 6 and are confident that Rahul will be back in the XI to take the No. 4 slot and don the gloves too.
What seems a bit worrisome is lack of proven backups for those positions. Ishan Kishan who kept wickets in the Caribbean, opened the batting with Sharma moving down the order. If Kishan is the backup keeper/batter, wouldn't it have been better to let him have a go in the middle? Similarly, should Iyer not make the cut or get injured again, Yadav or Samson seem to be only backup options at the moment. But neither have grabbed the chances nor have they got a consistent run in a specific role without an axe hanging over their heads.
There is, however, one other name that is now thrown into the mix. Tilak Varma. The youngster has ticked all the right boxes on his debut in the T20I format. Middle-order bat, check. Left-hander, check. Can roll the arm, an added advantage.
What remains to be seen is how the selection committee led by Ajit Agarkar and the team management assess Rahul and Iyer in the match simulation at the National Cricket Academy. And whether they will take the plunge to carry Varma to Sri Lanka and give him a go should either of them, especially Iyer, isn't able to get fit in time for the Asia Cup.
India's run to the semifinal in the 2019 World Cup was largely on the back of the top-three that did the heavy lifting with the bat. The current top three have only one change and are still capable of having a similar run, especially in home conditions.
However, if India wants to avoid what happened in the semifinal last time around, they would do better to have clear-cut roles for the players below Kohli in the line-up and have specific back-ups for them as well. For they have just nine ODIs before their biggest challenge begins.