OPINION
Follow UsEarlier in the day, the NBA team Golden State Warriors’ clinched its fourth title in the last eight years. It had a similar core – Draymond Green, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson – in the line-up. Two years after they finished last in the league, no one gave them a shot at the title.
But the core answered the criticism in a resounding fashion. It all began with the trust.
Why that now? After two straight losses at the hands of South Africa, India were in a similar position. They were under the pump, every question they threw, the Proteas gave them multiple answers. At this stage, with call for changes from every corner, one would have bound to make changes. But not this Indian management.
They stuck with the same line-up in the third T20I and what followed was the players repaying the management with results. India did not have one match-winner but they had multiple ones, popping up whenever necessary.
Ishan Kishan rekindles purple form
A 15.25 crore move, playing for a franchise that has immense expectations from the fan-base, life of the 23-year-old Ishan Kishan was bound to be tough. That is the nature of T20 cricket, on one day, you are a hero and the other day, a villain. It was always going to be easy for India to bench him after such an IPL season but the way the hierarchy has worked under this management, has been heart-warming.
“Ishan has been picked on his potential, his performance. Yes, you cannot specify these many games. Sometimes it's combination, sometimes it's injuries,” Dravid talked about the left-hander earlier in the year when India played with their full-strength squad.
Despite not having the best of IPL, the management insisted that the left-hander would play all the five games and the results are out there. Throughout the series, Kishan has proved his worth, with scores of 76, 34, 54 and 27. With these performances, the left-hander has all but boarded the flight to Australia but that doesn’t mean he will be a starter.
Dinesh Karthik and the role clarity
"It's very clear that Dinesh Karthik has made a comeback based on the skills that he has shown in a particular phase of the game. At that backend, Dinesh has really been able to show great consistency for the last 2 to 3 years. He has been able to make a difference in whichever team he has played,” said Dravid ahead of the series.
T20 cricket has evolved to a level where roles are everything. Each team has a particular role tagged to a player, which makes the understanding of the game much easier. For the longest time, the role clarity was a bit of confusion in Indian cricket. But Dinesh Karthik’s case shows how influential role clarity in modern-day cricket.
In overs (16-20) this series, the right-hander has top-scored with 84 runs, coming at a strike-rate of 186.7 taking 3.2 deliveries/boundary. Even at the post-match presentation, the 37-year-old made it clear, stating that there was a sense of clarity in the dressing room, which helped the team. It doesn’t matter if Karthik makes it to Australia or not, the fact that the management have a clear sense of understanding on the role, will transform the team.
"Credit to Rahul Dravid; there is a certain sense of calmness. The dressing room is a calm place right now. It is important to learn to embrace pressure. It feels secure and fuzzy. That clarity and the environment helped," Karthik said during the post-match presentation.
Avesh Khan, the perfect example
Trust and patience going hand-in-hand is often painstaking. It takes time, and in cricketing terms, it is a process. And with Avesh Khan, it was a process that paid big dividend on Friday. For the longest time, there were calls to replace the Indore-pacer from the Indian line-up. But as with other players, the management continued to instil their faith in the pacer.
After three games, Avesh’s figures read: 0/87. On surfaces that aided both Harshal Patel and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Avesh’s performances were definitely sub-par. However, that doesn’t quite reflect the picture that he was poor. The 25-year-old was good in parts but not good enough to pick wickets. But the Indian management said: We trust Avesh.
The fourth T20I showed the real value of Avesh Khan – the pacer. He was raw, he was fast and more importantly, he was deadly. Combine his raw pace with the variable bouncing pitch, India had the perfect ingredient for success.
However, India’s picture doesn’t seem like a short-term one. Avesh’s figures of 4/18 is one in the right direction for the long future. Yet again, it showed how the virtue of trust and patience could transform a player’s confidence. On Friday, every ball that was delivered by Avesh looked more threatening.
Hardik Pandya’s dual-nature
After the IPL, we wrote a piece on Hardik Pandya, and his different faces. And in that very article, we mentioned, “Having Hardik the smasher might have been a blessing but having Hardik, the player who understands his game better, is the ultimate blessing for team India.”
Also read: The different faces of Hardik Pandya
Throughout the series, Hardik has proved exactly that, the player who understands his game better has helped India draw the series level.
In the fourth match, walking out at 40/3, there was a considerable amount of pressure on the right-hander. Not just the expectations from the recently concluded IPL season but the expectations of being India’s premier all-rounder. He walked out and soaked all that pressure, and then when the time came took on the match-up.
During the middle-overs stage (7-15), the right-hander donned his role of being an anchor, as the situation demanded scoring just 46 runs in 41 deliveries with only five boundaries. But at the death, he changed gears perfectly, scoring 71 runs off 35 balls, at a strike-rate of 202.86. This version of Hardik is just the ultimate blessing for India and under this management, has all the tools to succeed.
