OPINION
Follow UsIt turned out to be a one-sided affair in the end. India put up 198 runs on the board batting first in the first T20I against England in Southampton. It only looked like a competitive total until India rocked England’s top-order in the powerplay to clinch a 50-run win.
Apart from the second T20I against Ireland, India have registered a big win in their last five T20Is while defending a target. For England, the start of the Jos Buttler era hasn’t been as fruitful as the same under Ben Stokes in red-ball cricket. Here, we discuss the major talking points in India’s win that has notched them a 1-0 lead in the T20I series:
India changing their batting approach
The first ball Deepak Hooda faced in his innings, he was beaten convincingly by the turn on Moeen Ali’s delivery. It didn’t faze him. Facing his second delivery, in Ali’s second over, Hooda charged down the track without a care for the world, smashing a six over the long-on fielder. He repeated that stroke on the next subsequent ball.
Hooda smashed 33 off 17 deliveries. His carefree approach underlined India’s intent with the bat in the first T20I.
For a number of years, Indian batters were known to carry a conservative approach at the start of their innings. The norm was to get hold of the conditions first before going for the attack. The 2016 World Cup semifinal poses the most example of the contrasting ideologies between India and some other countries. In that game, India were happy to forge a solid start before working on the run-rate. West Indies raced to the target with seven wickets in hand.
This year has showcased some clear signs of a change in intent. In Southampton, the Indian batters kept searching for the boundaries despite the fall of wickets. Barring Ishan Kishan who couldn’t get going, everyone else in the top five scored over 20 at a strike-rate in excess of 150. Rohit Sharma’s 24 off 14, Hooda’s 33 off 17 and Suryakumar Yadav’s 39 off 19 enabled to consistently score at 10 runs per over during the first half of the innings.
The focus has shifted from keeping wickets in hand to utilizing all the batting resources to their optimum value, even if it doesn’t result in a big individual score. The jump in the run-rate this year is a testimony to this conscious effort.
India didn’t close their batting innings on the desired note but it was this intent in the first half that helped them reach an impactful score of 198. However, the question is if India can continue with this objective with a shift in personnel to their first-choice players. The biggest person in doubt is the former skipper Virat Kohli. In 12 T20Is since 2021, the right-hander has a strike-rate of only 109.1 in the first 20 balls of his innings.
Swinging through the shortcomings
India fielded a different seam attack today. Neither Umran Malik nor Avesh Khan in the line-up declined India on the pace front. However, they made up for it in the most efficient manner in the powerplay. Both Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Arshdeep Singh swung the new ball prodigiously. While Bhuvneshwar is a well-known exponent of the lateral movement, Arshdeep bowled like the left-arm version of Bhuvi himself, bowling a maiden in his first over in international cricket.
After Bhuvneshwar cleaned up the dangerous Jos Buttler for a first ball duck, Hardik Pandya chipped in with twin strikes in his first over. In a run chase of 199, England were 32/3 at the end of the powerplay, never finding a way to get close to the finish line.
“At 8 o clock, there's a nip in the air, we wanted to utilize that,” said Rohit Sharma, clarifying his decision to bat first. The ball swung throughout the powerplay, that too from the good length. The trio of Bhuvneshwar, Arshdeep and Hardik didn’t put anything in the arc of the England batters - bowling short, cramping the opponent for room and swinging the ball both ways.
“Their ball swung quite consistently early on and got wickets. It swung more than usual, we probably had to hit one to the stands to reduce the swing,” mentioned Jos Buttler, saying one hit to the stands could have made their lives easier. But as said, the Indian bowlers hardly provided a chance.
Pandya’s rise as a seamer
Hardik Pandya the batter is a handy cricketer but a fully fit Hardik Pandya who can bowl is a priceless commodity in white-ball cricket. In Southampton, Pandya showcased the same for the nth time in the past four months. Batting through a tricky period, Pandya managed 51 off 33 balls without letting the run-rate suffer at any point in time. Later, he picked two wickets in his first over, finishing with 4/33. Thus, Hardik became the first Indian cricketer to score a fifty alongside picking a four-wicket haul in the same match.
Hardik delivered his full four-over quota, cranking up a decent pace and hitting the hard length to upset the batters. Since IPL 2022, the right-arm seamer has bowled 43.3 overs in 16 innings - close to three overs per match. He has fetched 13 wickets at an economy of 8.3. He has also scored close to 700 runs with the bat in the meantime but it is this improvement with the ball that carries a high significance for the Men in Blue.
Hooda should gain experience with ball
A vital profile India miss in their T20 armory is a batting all-rounder who can bat in the top five and deliver a few overs of finger spin. Hooda, at present, is India’s only hope to occupy that void. His brilliant batting numbers aside, Hooda’s part-time off-spin is a massive upside in his repertoire that may take him to Australia.
At the same time, it is important to check where his bowling stands in international cricket. In six T20Is thus far, Hooda has bowled only four overs. The Southampton T20I was a great chance to test it against a major Test-playing nation. Sure India didn’t need to bowl him but given the match was in the bag a lot earlier, Hooda stood an opportunity to gain some experience with the ball.
