Mumbai: For the longest time, India’s wicket-keeper batter used to be the first name listed on the team sheet. He would know the pulse of the changing game, play with minds of the opposition, take his team home more often than not, execute razor-sharp stumpings and if all of this wasn’t enough, captain the side to make himself undroppable.
After MS Dhoni left, India has struggled for a wicket-keeper batter who can hold his own in the T20 format.
In the past three T20 World Cups, formulaic picks have delivered sub-par returns. Rishabh Pant has been a constant, but is yet to ace the format. His great ability to second-guess the bowlers in the Test format seems to desert him in T20 cricket, where he is often chained by teams bowling to him on one side of the wicket. The temptation to give the free-spirited left-hander another chance to break free is always there in a big event. But it’s been 76 T20Is now. In any case, he won’t come into consideration for the Asia Cup, currently recovering from the foot injury from the England tour.
The other team regular has been KL Rahul. Sometimes donning the gloves, or in the squad because he can also keep. Best suited to bat at the top of the order, Rahul was there in UAE 2021 and Australia 2022 but his batting tempo like the rest of India’s campaign in those tournaments was outdated. In IPL, Rahul regularly delivers 500 plus runs in a season, a useful tick across the box in a long T20 competition. But taking time to get off the blocks and batting too long is a playing style India wanted to abandon which saw Rahul lose his place in the 2024 World Cup. Now, the top order is brimming with options.
Among the contenders is Sanju Samson. Forced to stay on the bench throughout the last World Cup, the power packed batter has been in his elements after being shuffled up the order. “You’ll be removed from the team only after 21 ducks,” Gautam Gambhir told Samson when he took time to find his bearings.
It’s the kind of hyperbole the Indian head coach frequently uses. For Samson, who’s waited forever to become an India regular, he needed just those words of reassurance. 522 of the right hander’s 861 career runs have come as an opener and his Strike Rate has shot up to 178, while it was meandering in the 120s earlier. Samson is expected to keep his place in the Asia Cup squad despite recurring dismissals against the short ball in the previous England series. But the competition at the top will remain intense and the selectors would prefer to pick someone who can bat down the order as the other wicket-keeper.
It’s one area where resources are still scarce. Hardik Pandya is by far India’s best finisher. But given his higher ceiling, they would want to utilize him at No.5 more frequently by identifying more finishers. Rinku Singh won’t be dumped in a hurry, but he is not a finished article yet. The strongest contender from this year’s IPL is Jitesh Sharma.
The wicket-keeper batter from Vidarbha always possessed the power to clear the ropes. Playing the finishing role for RCB, Jitesh was able to show his impudence with ramps and scoops, a recent addition to his power hitting.
His only serious competition for that slot comes from Dhruv Jurel. The Rajasthan Royals wicket-keeper batter first made a mark playing cameos down the order in the IPL.
Subsequently, he was promoted by the franchise to No.5 this year – he had a mixed season – and in the limited opportunities he has got in the national set up, is known to have impressed Gambhir and the selectors. Having passed the eye test, Jurel will remain in contention even though he may be the understudy across formats for now.
“With someone like Dhruv, you have to be careful. We only look at numbers…the Orange Cap and we say they are the ones who have performed. In every single match, Dhruv has come out in, he’s been chasing 13-14 runs per over – that is not easy. The performance metrics for someone who is batting at No. 5 (and below) have to be very different,” RR head coach Rahul Dravid had recently come to Jurel’s defence. When the selectors sit to pick a lower-order finisher who can keep wickets, they would have internalized Dravid’s words of wisdom.