It’s not too often that a player who scored a century gets consigned to the bench in his team’s next fixture. Such is the wealth of talent at the Indian cricket team’s disposal currently, at least in white-ball
cricket, that quality players end up warming the benches or even failing to make the cut in the squad despite strong credentials backed up by impressive on-field performances.
Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ruturaj Gaikwad scored centuries in their respective last ODI innings for India, against South Africa last year. While Jaiswal has remained part of the setup in the ongoing bilateral series with New Zealand, Gaikwad has been snubbed.
And the chances of Jaiswal featuring against New Zealand have diminished further with the tourists pulling themselves on level terms after winning the second ODI against India in Rajkot on Wednesday night.
Batting legend Sunil Gavaskar feels pressure will be on India in the series finale and they don’t have the elbow room to try Jaiswal, who could have been included for the Indore game had the series been decided. India won the first match in Vadodara to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series before the Kiwis bounced back with a seven-wicket triumph.
“…had they (India) won this (2nd) game, they would have had the freedom to experiment a little, perhaps giving opportunities to those who haven’t played so far. Someone like Jaiswal could have gotten a bit of a run as well,” Gavaskar said on JioHotstar. “All of that might have been possible. But now they can’t take any chances. They have to play their best eleven again.”
On a slow pitch, KL Rahul’s fine century and a second successive fifty from captain Shubman Gill guided India to a challenging 284/7 at the Niranjan Shah Stadium. However, Daryl Mitchell led New Zealand’s response with an unbeaten century to seal a relatively comfortable win, which surprised Gavaskar.
“I was surprised by how easily New Zealand got across the line because, before they started batting, everyone thought India would be able to make use of the slowness of the pitch,” Gavaskar said.
“With their (New Zealand) bowlers, not just the spinners, but all of them, using the slowness of the surface well, it felt like India would be able to restrict New Zealand to around 260 or 270. I thought that would have been an easy win for India,” he added.
Gavaskar was impressed how Mitchell combined with Will Young (87) to stitch a 162-run partnership that took the game away from India.
“I think they showed how a near-300 run total can be chased down, by taking your time to settle in and then backing your stroke-making ability and running between the wickets,” he said.
Former New Zealand bowler Simon Doull also lauded Mitchell for his knock and the manner he countered India’s spin duo of Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja.
While Kuldeep went for 82 runs in his 10 overs, managing to take just one wicket, Jadeja conceded 44 wicket-less runs in his eight overs.
“Mitchell’s got some very good numbers against India…We see it time and again, the reverse sweeps, using his feet. Very early on against Kuldeep, he came down the wicket and put him under pressure in his first over. From that moment, Kuldeep lost his length slightly, which doesn’t happen often. Even against Jadeja, he played him really well. The fact that he can come down the pitch, use his feet, hit over the top, or stay aggressive and play shots on both sides of the ground, with the reverse sweeps, the back-foot shots, everything in his armoury, shows his confidence,” he said.
Doull echoed Gavaskar’s sentiments that India are under the pump now.
“Of the two sides, New Zealand are the one not under pressure going into the final game. India generally respond pretty well to pressure; they still have key players in the side, and they know how to handle these situations,” he said.
“They understand how to win game three or game five of a series when it’s all levelled up. But New Zealand have nothing to lose. They have never won an ODI series in this country, so this would be a good time to start,” he added.
