5 potential power-hitters for India in T20 cricket
The run-fest that ensued during the first T20I between India and the West Indies during the recently-concluded series made one thing abundantly clear. Although the Caribbeans won the two-match series 1-0, courtesy some help by the weather in Florida, the contest was more between the power-hitters on either side of the table than about anything else.
As many as 489 runs were scored in the aforementioned game and only 10 of the 20 wickets fell. There were two centuries scored in a single T20I for the first time in the format’s history, and two young opening batsmen – KL Rahul and Ewin Lewis – made giant strides in international cricket.
However, as good as Rahul’s innings was during the 1st T20I, had the conditions not been as conducive to batting, and had Rahul not done what he did, especially after the early departures of Ajinkya Rahane and Virat Kohli, the Indian captain, MS Dhoni, would have been left with a bulk of the scoring to do. And, that has happened in the recent past as well, most recently against Zimbabwe in Harare, wherein India lost by 2 runs.
While batting first as well, India, especially after the departures of Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh, have lacked a power hitter, who could bat at No. 6 or No. 7 and gather quick runs towards the death. Virat Kohli’s magnanimous efforts in the ICC World T20 2016 partly overshadowed this frailty that had existed for quite some time, but the deficiencies came to the fore once again in the semi-final against the West Indies, wherein enough sixes weren’t hit to keep the power-packed West Indies batting lineup at bay.
Although, in the domestic circuit, India have managed to nurture some youngsters who can go on to fill in the shoes of past finishers like Raina and Yuvraj. Here, we enlist five of them.
Sarfaraz Khan
That Sarfaraz Khan is only 18-years-old and has played two Under-19 World Cups and two IPL seasons for the Royal Challengers Bangalore speaks volumes about the youngster's abilities. The inventory of shots that the right-handed batsman has up his sleeve, which predominantly include the ones played by non-conventional methods, makes him a top contender for the finisher’s role in T20 cricket.
A T20 strike-rate of 168.70 and an IPL strike-rate of 173.52 does no harm to his reputation either. From 18 IPL games, the youngster has scored 177 runs at 29.50 and this record jumps up to 248 runs at 24.80 if one takes into consideration all T20s that he has played. Having risen to prominence through his innings of 439 in an inter-school tournament – that contained 56 fours and 12 sixes – Sarfaraz made 211 runs at an average of 70.33 in the 2014 U-19 World Cup held in the UAE, and followed it up with 355 runs in 6 matches in the next edition in 2016.
Hence, the hunger for runs is there, the ability to score big is also there, and the ability to keep wickets is an added bonus. Taking into consideration all these credentials, Sarfaraz qualifies as a prime contender for the position of a finisher or a power-hitter in the Indian T20 side.