While the Rohit Sharma-led Indian team and its billion-plus fans fret over weather interruptions in its remaining games as well as their qualification for the knockout stage of the T20 World Cup, the BCCI and its panel of selectors has already set its sights on the road ahead once the showpiece tournament comes to an end.
The board after all, announced the squads on Monday for the tour of New Zealand as well as Bangladesh that take place after World Cup, making some interesting choices along with some shocking exclusions.
🚨 NEWS 🚨: India’s squads for series against New Zealand and Bangladesh announced. #TeamIndia | #NZvIND | #BANvIND
More Details 👇https://t.co/YsToGDBozi
— BCCI (@BCCI) October 31, 2022
Among the big moves by the Chetan Sharma-led selection committee was giving Hardik Pandya his first big tour as captain while resting regular skipper Rohit along with other big names such as Virat Kohli and vice-captain KL Rahul. Additionally, it raised quite a few eyebrows by overlooking names such as Prithvi Shaw and Sarfaraz Khan, who have been setting the domestic circuit on fire with one blazing knock after another.
What also did not go unnoticed was the absence of two senior players across the white-ball squads for the New Zealand and Bangladesh tours — Ravichandran Ashwin and Dinesh Karthik, both of whom have been getting regular game time in the ongoing T20 World Cup, and both having fought their way back after getting dropped from the white-ball setup.
That perhaps is the selectors’ way of sending a message for the veteran Tamil Nadu duo, that maybe the time has come for the team to look past them when it comes to the shorter formats, and they should focus on franchise and domestic cricket, or in Ashwin’s case, the Test format.
Selection reviews feat Indian cricketers pic.twitter.com/rAkk7dpTfC
— mon (@4sacinom) October 31, 2022
Ashwin remains indispensable in India’s Test plans and is a tried-and-tested match-winner in home conditions. And credit should also go to him for reinventing himself in the shorter formats. Not only did Ashwin work on his variations, practicing leg-breaks in the nets besides his carrom balls and the stock off-breaks, he had also improved himself as a batter in the limited-overs cricket, forcing the selectors to sit up and take notice and even pick him over a more established limited-overs bowler such as Yuzvendra Chahal.
Karthik too made a dream comeback in 2022, setting the stage on fire for Royal Challengers Bangalore during the IPL and playing a key role in its run to the playoffs, which in turn led to a clamour for his selection in the Indian team in its build-up to the World Cup. And in the first T20I against South Africa on 9 June, Karthik made his first appearance in the blue jersey since the 2019 World Cup semi-final against New Zealand. The dream would later be complete with his name featuring in India’s squad for the T20 World Cup Down Under.
🗣️ 🗣️ Mr. @chetans1987, Chairman, All-India Senior Selection Committee speaks about how the workload management of the players is approached. #TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/RIYIHqslIN
— BCCI (@BCCI) October 31, 2022
Age, however, is not on their side and the pressure on an athlete increases drastically as the years go by when he or she goes past the 30-mark. Not everyone is able to maintain peak fitness and deliver on the field beyond 35 as Pakistan’s Misbah-ul-Haq did in the twilight of his career, or as the English pace duo of James Anderson and Stuart Broad are still doing with astonishing consistency.
And the toll that the bygone years are taking on the senior players is visible — as great a bowler he is and despite his exceptional game awareness, Ashwin becomes something of a liability on the field, and the batters have shown a preference for targeting the area where he is positioned to get an extra run or three. One would then have to make up for this shortcoming with extraordinary performances with the ball, but Ashwin’s numbers in T20Is in the last three months (6 wickets; ave: 47.33; eco: 7.28) don’t exactly make him an indispensable member of the side.
Always great to have such fans in the stands…it excites us like nothing else ♥️🙏🏻 https://t.co/e6lB6j97V2
— DK (@DineshKarthik) October 27, 2022
A similar trend can be seen with DK, who has only added to the pressure on himself with poor outings against Pakistan and South Africa and also injured himself while keeping against the Proteas which has thrown his participation in the crunch game against Bangladesh into doubt and has possibly reopened the door for Rishabh Pant.
And given the sheer competition for wicketkeeping slots in Indian cricket at the moment, with the likes of Ishan Kishan and Sanju Samson also waiting in the wings besides Pant, it is always going to be tough for Karthik to stay relevant for too long.
“It is not like that [the selectors are looking for other finishers]. The World Cup is going on and this is more about load management. We are focusing on who to rest and who to play. And the way he came to our side and the way he performed, he is always available to selectors but in the T20I games immediately after the World Cup, we are looking to try a different set of players.
“Otherwise, the doors are open for him and he’s a brilliant player,” chief selector and former seamer Chetan Sharma had said following the announcement of the squads, justifying the decision to overlook the senior duo.
For now, Ashwin and Karthik will have to make the most of whatever opportunities they get in the remainder of the India’s campaign Down Under, and hope those performances at least keep them in the selectors’ radar in the early months of 2023.
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