Two months ago, cricket here was played in the sound of silence. The noise would be deafening in the T20I series decider between India and South Africa at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Friday.
The India versus West Indies Test in early October came at a time when this part of the world was celebrating Navratri. A five-day game against the Carribeans was way down in the fans’ priority list. Barely a few hundreds turned up for a no-contest that ended inside three days. Test cricket these days doesn’t fetch money. T20 is the game’s cash cow.
The fourth T20I in Lucknow was ‘fogged out’. The Indian team management missed out on the opportunity to have a look at the old opening pair of Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson. The latter would have replaced the injured Shubman Gill, who suffered a toe injury during practice. It is learnt that India’s T20I vice-captain is ruled out of the fifth T20I as well, although an official announcement is still awaited.
The team reached Ahmedabad on Thursday evening. Obviously, practice wasn’t scheduled on a travel day. Without a press conference, the scope for an update on Gill’s injury was llimited.
India won 14 of their 17 T20Is with Abhishek and Sanju pairing up at the top. The wicketkeeper-batsman is the team’s reserve opener at the moment. The series decider is his chance to make a statement. Gill has been struggling to get into the groove since his return to the T20I fold before the Asia Cup earlier this year. With only six more bilateral matches to be played before the T20 World Cup, the think-tank would want the back-up to be ready.
India would also like to see their captain, Suryakumar Yadav, regain his ‘360-degree’ mojo at the soonest. Circa 2025 has proved to be a wretched year for Surya the batsman. A tally of 213 runs at 14.20 from 18 innings suggests an elongated form slump. Low on confidence, Surya has seemingly stopped expressing himself during the early part of his innings. Maybe, he needs to go back to move forward. Playing without the fear of failure used to be his USP. A few more failures, and he would reach the territory of now or never. The pitch here is expected to be full of runs. Maybe, this is the skipper’s best chance to return to form.
Axar Patel was already ruled out of the series after being hit by a viral infection. Kuldeep Yadav replaced him in the third T20I, while Harshit Rana came in for Jasprit Bumrah who took a leave of absence due to personal reasons. The pace ace has re-joined the squad. It would be interesting to see how the team management strikes the right balance in the final game. India need some lower-order batting in Axar’s absence.
As for the spin-bowling all-rounder’s participation in the upcoming Vijay Hazare Trophy, it is subject to medical clearance. The BCCI has directed every centrally contracted player to be available for the country’s premier domestic 50-over tournament, starting on December 24.
Coming back to fans magnifying the noise level, already 78,000 tickets have been sold for the fifth T20I. The minimum denomination of tickets is Rs 500, while the maximum is Rs 2,000. “The timing of the Test match against the West Indies… we had a lukewarm response from the fans. But T20s are always crowd favourite,” Gujarat Cricket Association secretary Anil Patel told RevSportz.
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