IND vs NZ | Today I learnt - Mohammed Shami’s T20 mediocrity and KL Rahul’s insane dominance

01/24/2020

After the KL Rahul masterclass at the top of the order, Shreyas Iyer showcased his stunning ability with the bat, scoring a fine 50 to help India take 1-0 lead in the series. Yuzvendra Chahal’s bowling was one of the positives but India were left to wonder about Shami’s future in the format.

Mohammed Shami in T20s is useless

Mohammed Shami is easily one of the most overworked players in the country, playing all three formats and bowling the tough overs. While he has never compromised a thing or two to break the shackles in the ODIs and Tests, he has hardly been a T20 player, evident from his showings in the Indian Premier League. He has neither been able to take wickets on a regular basis nor has he been able to control the run flow. In his eight-match career, he has only 10 wickets to his name, conceding runs at an average of close to 10 runs per over. So the fact is - if he is not going to add any value to the side, why would you add more burden on his shoulder, making him do something that is absolutely unnecessary?

Never drop Yuzvendra Chahal

It should be a line that must be inscribed on Virat Kohli’s hotel wall. He finds Yuzvendra Chahal the first drop-able (Does that word make sense?) name when he wants team balance, yet when the time comes, Chahal stands up to deliver what every captain dreams of. While Mohammed Shami and Shardul Thakur were being carted all around the ground, Chahal brought in the control factor, conceding just 19 runs in the first three overs. Chahal doesn't turn his stock ball by a mile, nor does he have any mysterious variation apart from his secondary googly to back up his original one. His ability to control the game with his intuition is his greatest strength. It's an ability that brought him ahead of many in the New Zealand encounter. It was a game that underlined the significance of his importance and why he should never be dropped, no matter what.

KL Rahul is better than Virat Kohli in T20s

Well, this is not to incite a controversy on Twitter but hey, doesn’t this make sense now? An average of over 45 and a strike rate close to 147 is not normal and Rahul is just proving that. Undoubtedly, Kohli is a more consistent batsman, with the ability to change the direction of the game, but Rahul stands out as one of the best, if not the best, T20 players in the world. His sense of calmness worked well for India, as did for Kings XI Punjab numerous times in the last two seasons, with Rahul underlining his importance in India’s bid for their second T20 World Cup title. That he has taken the task of wicket-keeping in the shortest version of the game, adds to his impact - something that makes me believe as Rahul being India’s most important cricketer in the current Indian line-up.

Hamish Bennett has lost none of it

Ever since Hamish Bennett was named in the New Zealand squad for the T20 series against India, his bowling to Virat Kohli in Auckland that 2014 series was being played out in my head. The Canterbury pacer beat Virat Kohli’s bat on a regular basis during a fearsome spell of pace bowling where the Indian could only score 1 run off 16 balls. Away from action for close to three years now, it was hard to expect Bennett bringing in the same potency but boy, was he not good today? Of course, he conceded runs almost at 9.00 but that was the product of bowling at Eden Park. His line and length troubled India a bit more - something that New Zealand would hope to help them as the two teams face each other at the same venue on Sunday.

No win in this series matters for India's World T20 preparation

India won the game fair and square - with as many as three batsmen scoring runs north of 40 - but does this matter at all? Well, a five-match series in the Kiwi land is a challenge worth taking but with India preparing themselves for the World T20 in Australia later this year, this matters for nothing. Aussie grounds are massive - a direct contrast to what the “other” country Down Under has to offer. Even if this provides an opportunity for the Indian team to acclimatise and plan for the future, the results will be a direct contrast - a mechanism better understood from what New Zealand suffered in the 2015 World Cup final. This will need careful planning and consideration when the selectors sit down to pick the squad for the T20 World Cup.