Brace for another run-fest in Indore, the venue for the third T20I against the West Indies on Sunday.
A total of 501 runs were scored in Ranchi as the visitors levelled the series 1-1, much to the surprise of Shreyas Iyer’s team.
There hasn’t been any T20 cricket in Indore for two years, but the last three ODIs have produced scores of 399, 385 and 337. The small boundaries and the placid wicket will be a treat for strokemakers like Abhishek Sharma and Shai Hope.
For the second time in less than a fortnight, India head coach Gautam Gambhir has called for a more even contest between bat and ball in white-ball cricket. Gambhir had expressed similar sentiments in Guwahati when India chased down 406 in the second ODI.
In fact, the head coach expressed sympathy with the bowlers, saying their careers were at stake if such conditions continued.
“You don’t want a good bat-and-ball competition?” Gambhir asked. “What you want to see, that’s also what we want to see. We also want to see an even contest.
“These bowlers are our bowlers, not someone else’s bowlers. Their careers are at stake, they have worked hard to sit in this dressing room. If it’s an even competition, we’ll see a better game of cricket.”
Despite the conditions, Gambhir said India would examine their failure to defend the total. In all five white-ball matches between these two teams in the current bilateral affair, the chasing team has won on all occasions.
“You don’t shrug off any defeat,” Gambhir said. “If you want to keep improving, you don’t want to put anything under the carpet.
“We are a world-champion team so we want to keep improving. These are obviously tough conditions to bowl – we know flat wickets with the dew – obviously it’s tough, but we need to figure out and find the way.
“Especially with the opposition having lost two wickets in the first over and then lost three wickets in the powerplay.
“But again, credit to West Indies, the way Shai Hope and Sherfane batted.”
India managed to defend 249 in Ranchi despite Mayank Yadav dismissing two batters in the first over of the innings off consecutive deliveries.
“I’ve played enough cricket to know that games are not decided in the first over. They are a strong T20 side and we respect them,” Gambhir said. “We know how dangerous they are. A game of cricket is won and lost when you play consistently for a period of 40 overs.”
However, Shreyas’s captaincy has also come under the scanner, especially his decision to not complete Mayank’s quota of overs despite the pacer claiming 3/36 in his first three.
Sunil Gavaskar reckons India missed a trick by handing Kuldeep Yadav the crucial 17th over instead of turning to pacer Mayank or left-arm quick Arshdeep Singh. Kuldeep was taken for 24 runs in a game-changing over.
Arshdeep, who bowled the 18th over, could not stem the flow of runs either, conceding 17 runs.
“Definitely! I would have gone with either Arshdeep or Mayank (in the 17th over). Yes, Arshdeep went for plenty in his final over (18th over), but Mayank had struck the early blows. Of the wickets that had fallen, he had taken three,” Gavaskar said on JioHotstar.
“His (Mayank) economy rate was about 12 an over, and at that stage, the West Indies needed more than that. So, if he had taken a wicket, and sometimes when the game is going in your favour, who knows, you would have got a wicket even if it had not been off a great delivery.
“And once you get a wicket, suddenly, the opposition is on the back foot. A new batter has to come in. So, maybe that (bringing in Mayank) could have been tried. For me, I think giving Shivam Dube the ball in that ninth over was not exactly what was required at that stage. When the batters were still trying to get their eye in, maybe Kuldeep coming in would have been a better idea,” Gavaskar said.