Asia Cup runneth over: India Paks it up

Accepting change is never easy. India has tried to embrace change in two different ways. The first is to use the same personnel and change the approach, which has happened with batting. The top three of KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have repeatedly said that India now want to play a more independent and aggressive brand of Twenty20 cricket, even if it means losing out on consistency. However, there is not enough evidence that this line of thought has been implemented.

The second type of change is to give opportunities to different people in different roles to see who can deliver the best brand of cricket that the think tank wants. India managed to try it in bilateral series against England and West Indies. Rishabh Pant and Suryakumar Yadav opened the batting at different times, and Deepak Hooda was used as an independent batsman, hitting boundaries in a few overs.

But, when it came to the first major tournament, the Asia Cup, India went back to the old form.

“We have already got a lot of answers in the last eight to ten months and this experiment will continue,” Rohit said ahead of Pakistan’s match. “Look, we have decided that we will try things. Some things may work, and some things may not work, but there is no harm in trying. You will get the answer only if you try things.”

The top three problems came out clearly during the day. KL Rahul temporarily cuts outside strike against Naseem Shah.

Kohli seemed to be trying to play fearlessly, but he was more hands than feet, shining on his second ball, lucky enough to be dismissed at second slip. Kohli swung the ball the wrong way or inward more than once, and certainly looked weak. In the midst of all this, he played two dangerous shots. A forceful pull out from Shahnawaz Dahani brings back Kohli’s nostalgia and a whip over midwicket hits it over the fence at bullet speed.

But while the innings signaled a return to run-scoring methods for Kohli, it is too early to say that he has returned to form. As he has done in recent times, Kohli once again fell, not fully committed to a high shot from the left-arm spinner, and reached for the ball, slamming it straight to long off at 35. Kohli had tried to play the game changed, but it didn’t look like his heart was in him. Rohit, for his part, was deprived of strike early on and was unable to get the ball away when he came on strike.

Despite hitting a long six, Rohit had gone back to his old self, looking to settle down, playing a few balls before growing up. His 12 runs of 18 runs brought India back in the chase of 148 runs. What helped India that day was that the target was not big and their batting had enough depth. And it came on the basis of a strong bowling performance, Hardik Pandya performing like a proper bowler, not part-time taking 3 wickets for 25 runs. A rejuvenated Bhuvneshwar Kumar was also on top of his game, finishing with 4 for 26. But, while it was in vogue to talk about a new approach and change, it was clear that old problems remained and many questions still remained unanswered.

Originally published at Pen 18