CHENNAI: When news broke that KL Rahul, the named captain in the absence of Rohit Sharma, was ruled out of the South Africa series, there were few questions over how the inexperienced top-order would perform. Especially against a quality pace attack.
At the same time, it was also an opportunity, not just for the youngsters to prove their talent, but for the team management to field a XI that is as young as this side is probably for the first time since the T20 World Cup in 2007 under MS Dhoni. Back then, the big three, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid, opted out. Here, accidentally, India did not have their top three who have been around for the better part of a decade. And, of course, a wicket keeper-captain in Rishabh Pant.
Now, this is not to say that this team without the senior pros would win the World Cup. But, this is the first time a young captain is leading a young team against a top opponent (After all, the average age of the playing XI for the first T20I on Thursday was 28).
As South Africa put India to bat at Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on Thursday, it did not take long for anyone to see that. Intent — which has been the favourite word in Indian cricket for a while now — is all that mattered. Yes, there were passages of play where Kagiso Rabada and Andre Nortje tested Ishan Kishan and Ruturaj Gaikwad, which had catches that fell short and were dropped.
However, none of it affected the intent of Indian batters, who kept going for boundaries, irrespective of what the outcome of the previous delivery was. They took the attack to Nortje, smashing 15 runs in the sixth over to finish the powerplay with 51/0. Gaikwad was dropped off Wayne Parnell, which went for a six, but the 25-year-old went after the seamer again on the next delivery only to get out for a 15-ball 23. Shreyas Iyer picked it up from there, hitting a second-ball six off Tabraiz Shamsi. He went after the spinner, racing to 24 off 10.
At the other end, Kishan, too, joined the party, smashing Keshav Maharaj for 20 runs from the first four deliveries in the 13th over. He tried to hit every ball for a boundary in that over, before getting out on the final delivery for 76 runs from 48 balls.
Shreyas got out shortly after, but then began the madness of Rishabh. Through the IPL, the southpaw was striking well without making any big runs. But here the role was different. And so was he. Without taking any unnecessary risks, Rishabh held his ground and kept hitting Dwaine Pretorius down the ground for boundaries. Just like Kishan, he too, kept going after every delivery for his 16-ball 29. Hardik Pandya did his role to perfection with an unbeaten 31 off 12 as India finished with 211/4 – their highest T20I score against South Africa.
It is not that India, in the past, haven’t scored these many runs with the senior players. And yes, India lost as David Miller stole the show in the chase, conditions matter and more importantly, one has to wait and see how they fare at different venues.
That said, on Thursday, it was refreshing to see how the young Indian team would approach the format when they are on their own.
Brief scores: India 211/4 in 20 ovs ( Kishan 76, Shreyas 36) lost to South Africa 212/3 in 19.1 ovs ( Van der Dussen 75 n.o, Miller 64 n.o).