‘Take-aways’ from the Zimbabwe tour : Every series, be at home or away, irrespective of the opposition, throws up some ‘take aways’ that could be useful for the team in times to come.
The recently concluded Indian tour to Zimbabwe, though a very insignificant one from the quality of the opposition, did give out certain new perspectives for the Indian selectors.
The ‘key take’ aways from the tour :
- KL Rahul
With a tally of 196 runs from 3 innings (unbeaten twice) at an average of 196 and an individual high of 100*, a century and a half century to his credit, this Karnataka youngster has definitely announced his arrival on the big stage.
He also ended up with 69 runs from 3 innings (unbeaten once) in the T20I series.
Though he could not exihibit is glove work in the series for very obvious reasons, he showed great expertise in ‘working behind the stumps’ in the IPL tournament.
With a decent score of 3,465 runs in the domestic circuit with 337 as his personal best and 1,421 runs from List A games, he stands tall amongst the fringe players who deserve to get an entry into the Indian dressing room.
Given the fact that Wriddhiman Saha, who took over as India’s stumper post Dhoni’s retirement from the longer format, is yet to establish himself and also given the fact that Dhoni might be contemplating hanging the gloves from the shorter format too, sooner than later, Rahul fits the bill clearly and the ’wise men’ in BCCI would just do well to encourage this youngster and give him the opportunity when he is at his best.
2. Mandeep Singh
A couple of weeks ago, I had written about this batting sensation from Punjab and had also stated that this (the Zimbabwe tour) was the best opportunity for Mandeep to vindicate the selectors’ confidence reposed on him. The youngster did just that.
Getting opportunites to play in the T20I series, he made best use of them. Featuring in 3 games, remaining unbeaten once, Mandeep had accumulated 87 runs with 52* as his personal best.
Opening the innings alongwth KL Rahul, he gave good starts to India and helped them win two out of the three games and also the series.
He now has 3,970 runs in First Class at an average of 44.21 and 235 as his individual best. In the limited over format (50 overs) he has an accumulation of 2,176 runs at an average of 39.56 with 119 as his personal high and in the T20 format he has a tally of 1,837 runs at an average of 25.16 with 77* as his individual best.
Being in the company of stalwarts like AB de Villiers, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh etc in the RCB dugout during the IPL 2015, had given a lot of confidence to this Punjab youngster and the same was clearly visible during his outings in Ranji Trophy 2015-16, Vijay Hazare Trophy 2015 and the Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2016.
Definitely Mandeep Singh would remain in the selectors’ radar, to be inducted into the national team at the appropriate time.
3. Jasprit Bumrah
(Pic Source: PTI)
The 22-year old Mumbai Indians bowler has definitely come a long way. Making his ODI debut, replacing an injured Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the fifth and final ODI against Australia at Sydney, earlier this year, not only he DID NOT disappoint but also went a step further proving better than his senor team mates, Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav.
Bumrah also had a successful IPL 2016, picking up 15 wickets from 14 outings. Indian ODI and T20I skipper, MS Dhoni, billed Bumrah as the ‘find of the tour’ after India won the T20I series against Australia 3-0, Down Under, earlier this year.
The Gujarat speedster carried on his good form into the Zimbabwe series, claiming 9 wickets from 3 matches with 4/22 being his best performance.
He also bagged 5 wickets from 3 games in the T20I series with 3/11 being his best bowling performance.
Consistency shown by Bumrah is definitely a welcome thing and he would definitely be giving the likes of Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, a run for their money.
This youngster looks to be a long term member of the national team and need to be managed properly so as not to get consumed by burn out, injuries etc.
4. Yuzvendra Chahal
With a scalp of 21 wickets at an average of 21.30 and an economy of 7.42 from 13 games in the recently concluded Indian Premier League 2016, Yuzvendra Chahal ranked second in the list of ‘leading wicket takers’ in the tournament.
Chahal is one spinner who believes in ‘purchasing’ the wickets. He does not mind being hit out of the park, as long as, he is able to deceive the batsmen by ‘pulling back the length’, a shade shorter, compelling the already committed batsmen to make the mistake of either scooping a catch or being beaten by the spin and get bowled.
In the ODI series against Zimbabwe, he picked up 6 wickets from 3 matches, giving away 77 runs in 24 overs.
Chahal clearly belongs to the class of ‘disappearing spinners’ and his longevity would depend upon the consistency of his performance in the games to come.
He needs to make every opportunity that comes by his way to count and make his presence felt.
Given the fact that India would be playing most of their upcoming games in India, Chahal would have more opportunities to smile.
Incidentally the youngster also enjoys the confidence of both, MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli.