Are India looking at Gurkeerat Singh Mann as their next finisher?
A quiet one-line press release by the BCCI announced that a certain Gurkeerat Singh Mann had been added to the Indian squad just before the 2nd Test against South Africa. There had been no injuries, which made the inclusion even more baffling. Mann had been originally a part of the ODI squad against South Africa but had failed to get a game in the series.
Indeed, Mann's domestic form had been tremendous enough to merit an inclusion in the Test squad. After the two Ranji Trophy matches that he has played this season, he had a staggering batting average of 209 and had taken 9 wickets to go with it.
But to trace Mann's first tryst with fame, we have to go further back to understand the hype that has built around this quiet, unassuming Punjab lad.
Humble beginnings
Mann first burst into public consciousness as the youngster who had pulled off a blinder on the boundary ropes to dismiss Ross Taylor in the IPL in 2013. The 83 he scored for Indian Red in a Challenger Trophy match against Delhi the same year and a series of all-round match-winning performances for the junior Punjab team are sadly not much talked about now.
Son of Rupinder Singh Mann, who works at Punjab Mandi board, Gurkeerat had earlier performed brilliantly for Punjab in the U-19 Cooch Behar tournament and also played his part in the U-22 side that lifted the CK Nayudu Trophy in 2011.
His Punjab debut came in 2012 where he tasted almost instant success. He scored an impressive 236 runs in his first five matches. His record in List A competitions is even more inspiring -- in his 35 matches in the first four seasons, Mann accumulated a staggering 1193 runs.
He failed to come into the limelight during his maiden IPL season with the Kings XI Punjab in 2012. But he continued to score heavily in the Ranji Trophy, finishing the 2014 season as Punjab's highest scorer, with 677 runs from 14 innings at an average of 56.41. This earned him a call up to the India A side, a decision that was about to change his life.
Success with India A
In the first game against Bangladesh A, Mann scored a brilliant 65 and came with figures of 5 for 29. In the Triangular Series final against Australia A earlier this year, Mann had impressed everyone with his all-round skills.
He had picked up two crucial wickets with his off-spin, getting the prized scalps of Joe Burns and Callum Ferguson. While chasing a modest total of 227, India A had been reduced to the precarious position of 82 for 4 by a fiery Australian attack comprising James Pattinson, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Gurinder Singh and Ashton Agar.
It was then that Mann walked in to play an innings that decided his fate and earned him a maiden call up to Team India. A match-winning 87 off 85 balls that included seven fours and two sixes -- the maturity and composure he had displayed would have made his role model MS Dhoni proud. Almost instantly, the cricketing world sat up and took notice.
Punjab's Ranji Team coach Bhupinder Singh Sr. who deeply admires Mann's fearless approach said, “He backs himself and has been influenced by Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh’s aggressive mindset. But, of late, he has learnt the importance of adapting according to his team’s needs.”
He was always touted to play for India one day. The knock on the door became so hard that the selectors did not dare to ignore him after this. Sanjeev Patil said, “The moment we looked at Gurkeerat, we looked at his all-round ability. Looking at the need of the hour and the current playing norms, we need to have more all-rounders. Gurkeerat has been performing for the last two years. He has also played for India A and we have seen him performing.”
The next no. 7 for India?
Gurkeerat Singh had started as a top order batsman who batted at no. 3 for Punjab but the team management had pushed him down the order and envisaged him as a successful finisher. It was a move that has paid off and will stand him in good stead should he make his debut as an all-rounder for India.
Ever since Irfan Pathan went out of the selectors' scheme of things, India have struggled to find their next reliable all-rounder. A clinical finisher who could bat at no. 7 and turn his arm over has been the need of the hour for India for quite some time now. Yuvraj Singh carried out the responsibility to great effect during the 2011 World Cup.
Ravindra Jadeja has been India's preferred choice for the no. 7 slot in ODIs but he has failed to score runs consistently enough to merit the title of a genuine all-rounder. Ravichandran Ashwin, who currently tops the ICC list of Test all-rounders, has too classical and unhurried an approach to be labelled as a power-hitter. Stuart Binny has failed to make the most of the chances he has got so far and remains a peripheral figure in the Indian squad.
During the last decade, India did not have to worry for a finisher in limited overs cricket because they could boast that they had the best man for the job. But Dhoni's superhuman powers when it comes to finishing off matches is truly on the wane and, if rumours are to be believed, his days are also numbered.
The search for India's next finisher has now intensified like never before. The stage seems to be set for Gurkeerat Singh to make his grand entry.
Gurkeerat might be the preferred choice
The fact that selectors have chosen to drop Raina for India's tour to Down Under and included Gurkeerat is a fair signal of the direction in which the wind is blowing. The level-headedness, maturity and calmness he has shown in his run chases for India A seems to have got the message across to the selectors.
His greatest plus point is his ability to stay unfazed under pressure. “Mushkil kaam karenge tabhi aage badhenge (Only if you take up tough tasks will you progress),” he says in an interview to Livemint. “I like playing under pressure. I think that brings out the best in me.”
And he has never been short of role models to admire as he admits that he closely follows Dhoni and has Yuvraj Singh to mentor him in the Punjab team. "In the current lot, Mahendra Singh Dhoni is my batting role model because we both play very much at the same batting order. I relate to his game a lot, and I earnestly watch him bat whenever he is playing for India. I get to learn a lot from him," he told reporters after India A defeated Bangladesh A at the M Chinnaswamy stadium.
His long-time coach Sukhwinder Singh Tinku in an interview to the Indian Express gushed eloquent about his pupil's abilities and said he believed that Gurkeerat has the perfection to be a consistent finisher for India. “He is good against spinners, solid at defence, powerful in hitting and good off both backfoot as well as front foot.
"Where other batsmen would defend a certain delivery, he would play a big shot. So you would think that he is playing very fast, but actually he is playing normal. Actually his basics are very strong. So every format looks easy. He’s intelligent when it comes to picking his moments with the bat,” Tinku said.
Not since MS Dhoni has there been so much excitement and expectation from a youngster even before he made his debut for India. Gurkeerat has to be patient -- he will surely get his chances and when he does, he needs to grab them with both hands. Like any youngster, he would want to make a name for himself. And in a country which has been perennially short of good all-rounders, India need him to come good at the moment.