Rishabh Pant Vs Tilak Varma For Middle-order Spot

“You can’t please everyone,” Ajit Agarkar, Indian cricket’s chief selector, said at a media event last month, when asked about the challenges of picking a squad. “So, you try and do the best job you can… The sport is so popular in India that there will be people who will be critical of your decisions.”

As a selector, Agarkar has been presiding at a particularly interesting time. He has overseen – and perhaps nudged – some seniors to call time on their careers in some formats. And while some selection choices have raised questions, and there have been a few lows – such as the home series loss against New Zealand – the teams, especially in the limited overs’ formats, have seen much success. The combination of Agarkar and co as selectors and Gautam Gambhir as the coach have appeared unafraid to take what many would term risky calls. Under them, while the Test team is yet to live up to its potential, the limited overs’ teams wears a settled look.

The ODI World Cup is still about 15 months away, but the new squad announcement for the ODI series against South Africa does present an interesting insight into how the team management is looking to shape the team, and probably build backups for specific players, for that tournament. The injuries to Shreyas Iyer, Shubman Gill, and Hardik Pandya (who is said to be undergoing the final phase of his rehab) have suddenly opened up a number of slots. In this new squad, which will be captained by Rahul, Yashasvi Jaiswal will be expected to fill in Gill’s position and open the batting with Rohit Sharma. The selectors have however also brought back out-of-favour opener Ruturaj Gaikwad, who last played an ODI two years ago and who was in good form for India A during the recent one day matches against South Africa A. Then there is the slot opened up because of Iyer’s injury. Iyer has been India’s most prolific ODI batter in the last couple of years, and, from his No 4 batting position, has both controlled and dominated attacks in the middle passages of play. The selectors have recalled Rishabh Pant and introduced Tilak Varma in the squad, and these two will probably compete with one another to fill that slot. Pant has often expressed his wish to become an all-format player, but his past accident and his indifferent form in this format have come in the way. Varma, with just four ODI matches, hasn’t really had much of an opportunity in this format, but he is now already an established batter in India’s T20 team. And then there is also the option of wicket-keeper batsman Dhruv Jurel, who’s yet to debut in this format, but whose stock has been rising rapidly in recent months. He would probably not be in contention for a middle order slot right away, but you can see that the selectors view a long term middle order batter and wicket-keeper prospect in him.

Among the pace bowlers, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj, it appears, have been rested, given their large workloads across formats this season. Arshdeep Singh, along with Prasidh Krishna and Harshit Rana, have instead been given the go ahead. The continued absence of Mohammed Shami however has raised some questions. Once a shoo in for all formats along with Bumrah, after featuring in some tournaments once he returned from injury, he hasn’t found a place in any of the recent squads. When asked about why Shami had been left out of the Australia and England tours earlier this year, Agarkar had referred to a lack of fitness and match time. Shami has since been part of the ongoing Ranji Trophy, bowling a healthy number of overs and been among the wickets, but he’s continued to be ignored. Are the selectors now looking beyond him?

But of all the selection calls, Axar Patel’s is the most curious. Patel has become one of the team’s most valuable players in the ODI and T20 formats. He is frequently sent up to bat at number 5, well ahead of established batters, and has played key roles in crunch moments, and has been instrumental in the triumphs at the T20 World Cup and Champions Trophy triumphs. Under Gambhir, he has gone on from being an understudy of Ravindra Jadeja to one of the first names on the team-sheet. When Jadeja was left out of the ODI series in Australia last month, many assumed that the team management was moving on from the senior left armer and putting their stocks on Patel. And yet Patel has been left out of the squad for the South Africa series, and Jadeja has been recalled. A Test match cannot be a yardstick for ODI selection, but Patel didn’t do particularly well in Eden Gardens, where India lost to South Africa. On a tricky batting pitch that was conducive for spin bowlers, Patel was outshone by the less heralded right arm spinner Simon Harmer for South Africa. To be fair, the other Indian spinners weren’t much better either, but Patel was left out of the second Test match.

There is still a long time to the 50 over World Cup, and the team does have a settled look. Once Gill, Iyer and Pandya return, one would assume they would take on their positions. But there are still some what ifs. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli might have quelled the murmurs about their careers for now, but any downturn in form, and those questions will arise again.

India’s ODI squad for the South Africa series:

KL Rahul (captain & wicket-keeper), Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Tilak Varma, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Dhruv Jurel (wicket-keeper)