Opinion: India's solutions to winning the second T-20 International
While India narrowly lost a low scoring thriller in Vizag, there were multiple reasons which could be attributed to the failure of the Men in Blue.
India might have picked up a second string side which did not include Shikar Dhawan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Hardik Pandya and Vijay Shankar. However, they did very well to take it till the last ball after posting such a low score.
Let us take a look at a few reasons which caused India to lose their first T-20 of the 2 match series.
Lack of experience and options in the bowling department
One would be highly disappointed with the way India lost, especially after being the front runner to win the match at the end of 19th over.
The heroics of Bumrah in 19th over were very special as he gave away only 2 runs apart from picking 2 key wickets. His last over spelled doom for Australia as they had 14 runs to get in the final over which tailenders at the crease.
However, all the effort of Bumrah went in vain, as Umesh let the match slip from the team's grasp in the final over courtesy his inexperience.
India did miss Shami or Bhuvi for sure, but not just for their skill or variety. It is the experience that they have in handling the last over pressure that they missed sorely. Since Umesh could not keep his nerve, he dished out low full tosses.
India also sorely missed an extra bowler to operate with. In the 2nd T 20, India should ensure that they have a couple of part timers or all rounders in their playing eleven to avoid this situation.
One would also have suggested that Virat could have easily chosen Kuldeep along with Chahal rather than Mayank Markande who was a debutant. We all know the impact of the combination of Kuldeep and Chahal, don't we?
Dhoni's low strike rate
A number of people will be divided on this point, one group must be saying that Dhoni had carried his bat and hence India could post a total of some substance. However another group of people would say that Dhoni did not take the singles on offer and thereby India posted a sub par total.
If we look into it, then both the opinions are right, if Dhoni had not stayed till the end, India would have not reached such a total. On the other hand, as Dhoni did not take the singles on offer, India ended up on a lower total.
However the situation was so tricky that it demanded a person to play cautiously so as to not lose his wicket and at the same time to go with proper safe shots to the fence. However, I personally feel Dhoni did a pretty good job with his current skill set and age. The singles missed out however proved crucial in the context of the match.
Dhawan can come in place of Dhoni. Dhawan can open the innings along with Rahul and Rohit can take the role of Dhoni as he has good number of years of experience in the middle order.
Long tail
While the above 2 reasons are obvious and made the people take up notice, one thing which had a very big impact before a ball was bowled was the fact that India had a long tail.
The Indian team doesn't have a settled middle order yet and to add to their already woeful situation, it had a weak lower order in the T20 playing eleven. In ODI's, we had Rayadu, Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh, Bhuvneshwar and Vijay Shankar more recently, who have performed for the team.
So it was very important that India had a couple of all rounders from the above names or any all rounder to increase the batting strength which is what T-20 is known for.
Only Dinesh had some good experience in the set up. Rishabh Pant and Krunal Pandya are talented but pretty inexperienced to handle crisis situations. Hence it would have made sense to include Vijay Shankar in the team. He can both bat and bowl sensibly according to the requirement as shown in the overseas series against New Zealand.
Vijay Shankar has also shown his prowess with the ball, throwing down economical spells with the ball and presented a good head with the Bat in the opportunities presented to him. More importantly he looked to be a mature batsman after the incident in the finals of Nidahas Trophy.
Rishabh being a young and aggressive talent would have had many Indian fans wanting him in the playing eleven, but Vijay Shankar would have suited more better as it would have lent balance to both batting and bowling.
Failed Batting
Despite getting a good head start in the first innings, India faltered unexpectedly, despite having some very talented and bright names in the eleven. Players like Rishabh Pant, Krunal Pandya and Dinesh Karthik had a golden opportunity to build innings in the middle after losing quick wickets. However, nobody provided any kind of substance of fighting spirit, which broke the spine of the scorecard eventually.
Rishabh Pant seems much like Dhoni in his early years providing some aggressive scores and flopping in between, much like the early years of Dhoni. Hope we see him improve over the years.
Changes that can be done
If India has to win the 2nd T-20 to square the series, India must pick Vijay Shankar in place of Krunal Pandya, Kuldeep in place of Mayank Markande, Dhawan in place of Dhoni, and Siddharth Kaul in place of Umesh.
Dhawan and Rahul can open the innings and Rohit can come in the middle order to give it more substance.
While changes of Dhoni and Umesh are contemplative and depends upon team perspective, ie:- if they want to go all out to strengthen all of their departments to win at all costs and leave no chunk of weakness they can opt for the changes of Dhoni and Umesh.
If they want to go with aggressiveness combined with balance then they can retain Dhoni and Umesh who provide balance and aggressiveness respectively.