Why India needs specialists for T20Is

Will the selectors again go back to Yuvraj Singh?

After the T20 World Cup in 2014, India played just three Twenty20 international matches before entering into the South Africa series. And India also lost a couple of matches – one against England and another against Zimbabwe, which have clearly raised questions over India’s performance in the shorter version of the game.

Add to the woes, India failed miserably in the T20 series against South Africa as they lost the series to the Proteas 2-0 at home. At Dharamshala, India had a great chance but didn’t get Duminy’s decision in their favor as South Africa prevailed by five wickets. However, in Cuttack, India was demoralized as they were bowled out for under 100, and South Africa prevailing by six wickets to register a T20 series win over India.

The advantages of having T20 specialists

What has gone wrong with India in the shorter version of the game? Do they not have enough firepower in the batting? Or, has the bowling let them down? If this is the case, can India put up a good show in the T20 World Cup?

When you look at the composition of the Indian team in all the three formats of the game, it’s pretty much the same side except for one or two changes to the Test team. These players are perfectly suited for the one-day format as they have the tendency to take time at the crease before going for big shots.

Look at Shikhar Dhawan, he has a pretty good average in one-dayers, but has found it difficult to get going in the T20 format. Also, look at the middle order – India doesn’t have enough firepower, which is preventing them from being an extraordinary T20 side. Also, Ambati Rayudu has done a good job lower down the order for Mumbai Indians, but has failed to replicate the same at international level against quality bowling attack.

So, what can India do to sort out this problem? When you look at South Africa, Australia and England, they have a separate team for T20s, ODIs and Tests. They have specialist players for each format, which is helping them to succeed in all the formats of the game. Through the T20 format, these nations find out devastating batsmen, and assign them a specific role in one-dayers at a particular slot. Unsurprisingly, these are the players who have proved to be game-changers for their respective nations.

An ideal example would be Glenn Maxwell, who has had good success at the T20 level, has been assigned the role of to demoralizing the opposition by taking on the attack to them in ODIs. He comes into bat at number five or six, and straightaway does his job what he has been told to do. When Maxwell succeeds in doing his role, more often than not, Australia emerge victorious.

This is the sort of player India has been missing in the recent past. Yuvraj Singh would prove to be the game-changer in the past for India, but now with MS Dhoni’s hitting ability on the wane, what’s the best solution for India to overcome this problem?

T20 format is all about specialists, and if India can have four specialist batsmen, and four specialist bowlers, they would emerge victorious.

Blend of youth and experience

Manish Pandey – Ideal solution to lower-middle order

Therefore, the task for India is to find out a good opening partner to Rohit Sharma, and a proper number six batsmen who can be a game-changer. Mayank Agarwal is someone who can be destructive at the top of the order along with Rohit Sharma or even Ajinkya Rahane could prove to be handy at the top, but the problem lies with the middle order.

It is important that what sort of plan the selectors have in mind in looking for a destructive batsman. Are they looking to go back to the players like Yusuf Pathan, and Yuvraj Singh? Or, are they looking to introduce fresh faces?

It wouldn’t be a bad idea to mix the combination of youth and experience. Yuvraj Singh has been amongst the runs at Ranji Trophy, and Yusuf Pathan has done a good job for KKR in last two seasons, and in a high-pressure knock-out game, Yusuf Pathan played a stellar role in KKR claiming the second spot in last season of IPL. Thus, India can look at someone like Yusuf Pathan for T20s, as he would have massive impact in crunch games.

On the other hand, Manish Pandey is someone who can be destructive towards the back end of the innings. He has got the attacking game, and has the ability to take the game away from oppositions in no time, and thus, he is an option for India for the T20 WC. The best choice is out of the three – Yuvraj Singh, Yusuf Pathan and Manish Pandey, pick Manish Pandey, and decide between Yuvraj Singh and Yusuf Pathan.

This would just give the firepower to the Indian batting line-up, and with Virat at three, Suresh Raina four, and MS Dhoni at five, a destructive number six batsman would just make this Indian team stronger in the T20 format.

To conclude “Losing by trying something new is not at all wrong, like it is with sticking with same players and witnessing horrible losses.”