3 things India must try out in 5th T20I vs Australia
Team India avenged their 2023 World Cup final defeat to Australia by winning the T20I series with a game remaining. With a 3-1 series lead, the Men in Blue will be gunning to finish the five-match rubber on a high in the finale at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore on December 3.
With both teams resting several key players for this series that got underway less than a week after the World Cup, India has showcased their incredible bench strength in the shortest format.
Following a thrilling two-wicket win in the series opener, the hosts flexed their muscles with the bat to post a mammoth 235 and win the second game by 44 runs.
With the prospect of a series win looming, the following fixture seemed to be following a similar script as India posted a massive 222 on the board. However, a stunning century by Glenn Maxwell helped Australia pull off a miraculous final-ball win.
Yet, the Aussies could not produce similar heroics and fell 20 runs in the penultimate T20I to concede the series. With the series outcome decided, an opportunity for Team India to experiment with certain aspects has arisen in the final game, looking ahead to the T20 World Cup in June next year.
Considering that, here are three things India must try out in the fifth and final T20I against Australia.
# 1 Play Washington Sundar and Shivam Dube to ensure game-time for all the squad members
In a series meant for trying all the possible options with the T20 World Cup looming, it has been surprising to see the former RCB duo of Washington Sundar and Shivam Dube warm the bench throughout the series.
As the only two players in the squad to not have any game-time in the first four T20Is, the duo must play in the series finale. From being a relatively regular member of the Indian white-ball squad, Sundar has been relegated to the second-string T20I side since returning from the injury suffered during the IPL.
Although he returned during the Ireland T20Is before the World Cup, Team India went with the experience of Ravichandran Ashwin for the marquee tournament.
Sundar was part of the Indian side that won the Asian Games in Hangzhou, yet has seen Axar Patel and Ravi Bishnoi play as the primary spinners in all four games thus far. Despite going wicketless in four of his last five T20Is, Sundar deserves to play the series finale being the lone specialist off-spinner in the squad.
As for Dube, this year has seen a remarkable resurgence for him, with an incredible IPL season earning a national recall after three years. The southpaw impressed in limited opportunities against Ireland and was part of the victorious Indian side in the Asian Games.
Yet, he seems to be at the back of the pecking order among middle-order batters, leaving his chances of being part of the T20 World Cup slim. However, his ability to decimate spinners in the middle overs and provide a useful sixth bowling option makes him a rare commodity in Indian cricket.
At the very least, Dube should play the final game to possibly showcase his six-hitting ability at the batting paradise that is the Chinnaswamy Stadium.
# 2 Test the sixth and seventh bowling options
One of India's biggest bugaboos in white-ball cricket over the past few years has been the lack of batters who can consistently roll their arms over with the ball. Yet, a key reason behind this could be their unwillingness to test out their part-timers during bilateral series.
The recent ODI World Cup was a great example of how part-time options prove handy at the most crucial moment. With Adam Zampa carted around the park in the semi-final, Australia turned to Travis Head, who picked up two wickets in as many deliveries to spark a turnaround.
Meanwhile, India came unglued in a similar situation in the final when Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne added a match-winning 192-run fourth-wicket partnership thanks to a lack of sixth and seventh bowling options.
With an off-day for a specialist bowler almost a foregone conclusion in T20s, India must develop batters who can periodically chip in with the ball. The Men in Blue have bowled all 20 overs with only the five specialist bowlers in all four games of this series. With the series decided, India must start using part-time bowlers more often to cover all bases for next year's T20 World Cup.
Trying out a few overs from Yashasvi Jaiswal and Tilak Varma in the Bangalore clash today would be ideal. Jaiswal has recently released videos of him practicing leg-spin bowling on his Instagram handle, while Tilak has picked up two wickets in T20Is with his off-spinners.
# 3 Rejig the batting order to explore all possible options
With the possibility of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli returning for the T20 World Cup and the guaranteed return of Shubman Gill and Hardik Pandya in India's first-choice playing XI, it is pivotal that the players in this series bat at different positions.
It helps the select few who may be part of the T20 World Cup get accustomed to the roles and responsibilities of the positions in the batting order. For instance, Tilak Varma has struggled in the lower middle-order to up the ante with a strike rate of only 126.47 at No.5 in T20Is.
Meanwhile, Ishan Kishan batted only at No.3 in the first three outings of this series before Shreyas Iyer replaced him in the previous game. The former opening the batting or playing at No.5 could be a distinct possibility based on the formation of the squad for the World Cup.
Even the openers Rututraj Gaikwad and Yashasvi Jaiswal have only played at the top in all four games. Yet, should Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill feature in the T20I side during the build-up to the World Cup and in the tournament itself, they may have to play a role elsewhere in the batting order.
Considering these possible permutations and combinations, it may be worthwhile for the management to rejig the batting order in the series finale.