CHENNAI: January 1 brought with it something new apropos the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). There was a press release sent out in the afternoon, a good seven hours ahead of the norm. But the wordings of the mail stuck to an age-old problem in Indian cricket. Ambiguity.
Who is an ‘emerging player?’ ‘What’s a substantial domestic season?’ Does this clause apply only to specific formats or all formats? Are they bringing back the Yo-Yo after finding its absence as the primary reason behind the worrying injuries (the new BCCI regime prioritised it but there has been no progress report)?
Can the BCCI even legally ask IPL franchises to keep the workload of the national team’s biggest stars in the equation just because a World Cup is around the corner (it’s a bit like the English FA mailing Tottenham requesting them to under-utilise Harry Kane in a World Cup year)?
The ‘review meeting’ also left the bigger unanswered question of whether Rohit Sharma has been removed as captain of the T20 side. In essence, the recommendations made a sound like a preview meeting ahead of this year’s 50-over World Cup. Which, in a roundabout way, segues to India’s first assignment in the New Year. A three-match T20I series against neighbours Sri Lanka, with the opening match in Mumbai on Tuesday. Zoom out and this series holds next to no context; bilaterals in this format rarely do.
This bilateral, though, could be different. If the BCCI wants to soft launch a new leadership group consisting of Hardik Pandya as captain and Suryakumar Yadav as his deputy (he’s named as such) and give them time and space to grow into a new role 16 months before the next T20 World Cup, this is arena to do it (they did the same thing with Rohit during the series against New Zealand in late 2021). There is enough time and they can go through different player profiles before zeroing in on the ones they want.
Speaking of player profiles, are they finally willing to look beyond Rohit, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul, the incumbent top three? One can only speculate but all three of them will miss back-to-back bilateral series in this format. It has, of course, happened previously but that was because of the proximity of a red-ball series.
And Sri Lanka is an interesting challenge. They bring to India a settled squad with multiple players capable of winning franchise matches on their own. In that context, it will be interesting to see the performances of Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, Shubman Gill and Umran Malik, possibly the next cabs of the rank for India in this format. Under a different regime, everybody begins with a clean slate.
Even if the 50-over World Cup gained prominence in the pre-match press conference, Pandya spoke about what his leadership will be like. “What we have noticed and what we have told the boys is that just go out there and express yourself, which they will do and it’s up to us how we back them,” he said. “We have said it we will back you to the core. All the players have that support from my side and I will back them to the core. I have to make them believe that.
“We are looking to play in a certain way which we will. Before the IPL, only six (T20I, three against Sri Lanka and as many against New Zealand) games are there. So we don’t have much time to do a lot of things. But, going forward, we will keep creating new plans and see which plans are sticking and which are working for us. And, going forward, make sure that everyone gets ample opportunities.”
Read between the lines and you get the sense that Pandya has quietly been told he will skipper the side in this format after a successful audition. Irrespective of what he has been told, the upcoming series offers another set of players to take the team forward.