Boria Majumdar in Sydney
As the dust settles on the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, and India get ready to refocus on white-ball cricket, the one question doing the rounds is what impact this series will have on the ODI team, if any?
The answer, sources confirmed, is “nothing or no impact”, whatsoever. When probed further, the answer was even clearer. “Nothing has changed.” Red-ball and white-ball are two fundamentally different games, and to extrapolate red-ball form into the white-ball arena would be foolish. Rohit Sharma will continue to be India’s white-ball skipper and Virat Kohli will continue to bat at No. 3.
Rohit has been excellent in white-ball cricket in the last year and more, and played a pivotal role in his teams run in the 50-over World Cup on home soil (2023) and the T20 World Cup win in the US and Caribbean a few months later. The same can be said for Kohli. He scored over 700 runs in the 50-over tournament and, despite a modest T20 World Cup, played a defining innings in the final.
To Kohli first. His problems in Australia stemmed from poking outside the off stump. He continued to chase balls on the fifth or sixth stump and inevitably got out to catches at second or third slip or by the keeper. In white-ball cricket, these pokes or dabs will usually get him a single to third man. Except at the start of his innings, when captains might just put in a lone slip, chances are the cordon will be empty and it will turn into a percentage shot for a single. The issue will yet again arise in the Test series in England, where he’d have to control his instincts and leave those balls alone.
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For Rohit, it is expected that he will go back to his aggressive game at the top of the order and try and give India quick starts to set the game up. It worked superbly well in the home World Cup, and Rohit will be desperate to get some runs under his belt. Both of these players should play the England ODI series ahead of the Champions Trophy, and get some confidence before heading into the ICC tournament in Dubai.
The big call is expected with Jasprit Bumrah. They need to assess the extent of his injury, and he could just play the one ODI against England in Ahmedabad before heading into the Champions Trophy. Hardik Pandya will have a key role yet again, and it is to be seen if India also pick Nitish Reddy in the 15-member squad, which is to be announced by January 12. Changes are, however, allowed till February 13, as per the ICC’s rules.
While the rest of the squad is almost routine, I’d be keen to see if the selectors look at Yashasvi Jaiswal. He was very impressive in Australia, and has the ability to have an immediate impact at the top of the order.
For Rohit and Kohli, it is a very important tournament, to redeem themselves and showcase their continued relevance in white-ball cricket. For Gautam Gambhir too, it is key to do well after back-to-back losses, having started his tenure with upset defeats in the white-ball series played in Sri Lanka. Finally, Ajit Agarkar has to pick the right 15 after selections for the tour Down Under raised many eyebrows. The results were evidence that things weren’t done well.
Also Read: Bumrah sizzles, Rohit fizzles in BGT series ratings