It may have taken some time to find the right balance, but India appear to have finally locked in their best batting mix at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.
India got contributions from all of their top six batters as they put Zimbabwe to the sword in Chennai on Thursday, setting up a cut-throat clash against the West Indies at Eden Gardens that will determine who claims the final spot in the knockout stages.
It was the new-look opening pair of Abhishek Sharma (55) and Sanju Samson (24) that did the damage during the early overs, with Ishan Kishan (38), Suryakumar Yadav (33), Hardik Pandya (50 not out) and Tilak Varma (44 not out) all getting in on the act as India posted the highest score of the T20 World Cup so far (256 for 4) and the second biggest in the tournament’s history.
Former India keeper Dinesh Karthik was on hand to watch the demolition job and he believes the left-hand, right-hand opening partnership between Abhishek and Samson should be continued for the winner-take-all contest with the West Indies in Kolkata on Sunday.
“India haven’t been getting those opening starts, So when someone like Sanju and Abhishek open together, it’s a lot of pressure having a right-left combination,” Karthik told ICC Digital after the match.
“They (Zimbabwe) in fact didn’t bowl off-spin because probably Sanju was there. Otherwise, Sikander Raza is known to take the new ball. The fact that he didn’t tells you that they were worried that the right-hander was there, so the matchup is working in favour of India.
“Sanju got going soon after Abhishek absolutely smashed it, and that’s something that we are so used to seeing. And I think at times we take it for granted what he’s doing is special and it’s hard to be consistent, which he was.
“Yes, a bit of a blip at the start of the World Cup, but when he comes good, India is always cruising to a fantastic scope,” Karthik said.
We keep it very simple: Samson
For Samson it was just his second appearance at the T20 World Cup and the right-hander admitted he had been giving plenty of advice to Abhishek, as the No.1 ranked T20I batter made his best contribution of the tournament so far.
“We keep it very simple,” Samson told ICC Digital. “He keeps asking me Paaji (brother) what is the wicket doing. I tell him nothing and to just see the ball and swing your bat nothing else, so I really enjoy batting with him.
“We both complement each other really well, so very happy we could actually give India a great start today,” he said.
Tilak show heartening
One of the other big positives to come from the match was the performance of Tilak Varma, with the Hyderabad player smashing an unbeaten 44 from just 16 deliveries in a new role at No.6.
Varma had batted at No.3 across India’s first five matches at the T20 World Cup for mixed results, but looked more at ease at the death as he smashed four sixes at MA Chidambaram Stadium.
“I always say that whatever team needs, I’m up for it,” Varma said when asked about his preferred batting position. “So, I’ve done the same role since the last four years in IPL for Mumbai Indians, and also I’ve done a few games for the Indian team.
“So, I’m up for it. Whatever the team needs, I’m up. And according to the situation, I can adjust.
“But as I said before I was just waiting for one innings. So, I am really grateful to God for that. Right time it has been given, but I am up for it. I am pretty confident now that going forward I can win the games for the team.”
