3 young players who can replace Rohit Sharma as T20I opener
Rohit Sharma had a T20 World Cup to forget in Australia as captain and even more so as a batter. In six matches, he scored 116 runs at an average of 19.33 and a strike rate of 106.42. His best score, 53 (39), came against the Netherlands.
In the game that mattered the most, the semi-final against England on Thursday, October 10, Rohit played a slow knock of 27 (28), which got his team off to a poor start while batting first and contributed heavily to an embarrassing 10-wicket defeat.
There are many reasons why this could be a sorry swang song in Rohit's T20I career. His inability to collect important runs in the powerplay hurt India badly and opened conversations on bringing in someone who can take on the bowlers better.
He's also the captain of the ODI and Test teams, which have the 2023 World Cup and the second World Test Championship as their main focus. Rohit's age and injury-prone body might not allow him to play in all three formats anymore, and T20Is, which don't have any important tournament impending, might be the loser.
If Rohit retires from T20Is now or in the few months after grooming the next captain, India will need to have a youngster ready to fill his massive shoes.
Below we look at three opening batters who could do that if the need arises:
#1 Prithvi Shaw
Injuries, a ban, multiple snubs, disappointing messages on Instagram Stories, controversies, criticism, and a myriad of memes later, Prithvi Shaw is still India's best bet to replace Rohit in T20Is. He was seen like that when he debuted for India in 2018 and has maintained that narrative due to his sheer run-scoring ability.
Shaw scored a record-smashing 827 runs in eight innings at an average of 165 in the last Vijay Hazare Trophy.
In this year's Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, Shaw was the second-highest run-scorer with 332 runs from 10 matches at a tournament-best strike rate of 181.42.
Shaw is also India's best powerplay batter ever in the IPL. No Indian opener with more than five IPL innings can match his strike rate of 147.45.
This T20 World Cup showed what many feared - KL Rahul, Rohit, and Virat Kohli are very similar batters who like to take their time early in the innings, which doesn't work in today's era. It was reflected in India's powerplay numbers - their run rate of six in this phase was the worst for them since 2007.
To curb this backward trajectory, the team needs someone who may not average in the 50s but consistently gives them good cameos at the top. This is the exact role Shaw plays for Delhi Capitals in the IPL.
For some unrevealed reason, the BCCI has continued to ignore him, even for inconsequential bilateral series. This tournament might force a relook. He looks to have worked on his technique and fitness over the last few months. The BCCI might do more harm than good to themselves if they wait for IPL 2023 to assess Shaw.
#2 Ishan Kishan
Although he hasn't been as prolific a run-scorer as Shaw in domestic competitions, Ishan Kishan is at par with him among likely future openers. In fact, a Kishan-Shaw opening partnership at the 2024 T20 World Cup won't be a surprise.
Kishan has had an arguably unfair recent few months. He was fast-tracked to India's squad in the last T20 World Cup after playing just three T20Is. He played just one game and was dropped mid-way through. After the tournament, he featured in almost every bilateral series and did brilliantly against South Africa and Sri Lanka.
However, he had three difficult matches against Ireland and England, which caused Rohit and Co. to drop him and try Rishabh Pant and even Suryakumar Yadav at the top of the order. Curiously, neither opened the innings in this World Cup as vice-captain Rahul returned to the team with a mediocre outing.
Some believe that Kishan is more suited to the middle order, given his superb skills against spin, but as he showed on his debut against England in early 2021, he has the game to make the best use of pace in the powerplay as well.
In 19 T20Is, Kishan averages over 30 with a strike rate of 131.16. His IPL numbers are almost identical with a sample size of 75 matches. He is young but still experienced and also a left-hander -- the perfect sub for Rohit or Rahul if the BCCI is serious about overhauling the team and adopting an aggressive strategy.
#3 Yashasvi Jaiswal
His lack of a breakout IPL season might not give that impression, but Yashasvi Jaiswal's powerplay strike of 134.55 is better than Ruturaj Gaikwad's (110.82), Sanju Samson's (116.48), Rishabh Pant's (124.90) and Shubman Gill's (120.98).
The young Rajasthan Royals opener has scored only around 250 runs in the last two IPL seasons but he does his job perfectly. This year, he had a strike rate of upwards of 130 five of the six times he scored more than 20 runs. Rohit was doing something similar for the Mumbai Indians but failed to replicate it on the biggest stage.
Jaiswal had the fourth-best strike rate against fast bowlers among Indians with more than 15 runs in the season - 133.56 - only behind Shaw (166.66), Robin Uthappa (139.28), and Rahul (138.87). Rahul's numbers are slightly higher because of his tendency to stay till the end, which isn't Jaiswal's role in his team.
His strike rate game has been strong in domestic tournaments as well. In the 2021 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, he struck 266 runs in 10 matches at 141.48.
At 20, Jaiswal is still too young to replace Rohit, but he has shown all the signs of being a brilliant asset with the right grooming and environment.