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Abhishek, spinners shine light on India’s free-spirited approach

BySanjjeev K Samyal
Feb 03, 2025 10:42 PM IST

Gambhir and Suryakumar want the team to push the envelope and the England series was a good step in that direction

MUMBAI: Sandwiched between the marquee Test series in Australia and a big 50 overs ICC event – the Champions Trophy, it may seem that the India versus England T20I series was held out of the blue, but when looked at in isolation, each T20I series has its own importance.

India's Abhishek Sharma plays a shot during the fifth and final T20I against England. (AFP) PREMIUM
India's Abhishek Sharma plays a shot during the fifth and final T20I against England. (AFP)

With the next T20 World Cup a year away, every series from this point on is a chance for players to impress and stake a claim for a place in the global event because such is the competition for places in the side that the players know they simply can’t afford a drop in performance.

The task is cut out for coach Gautam Gambhir and captain Suryakumar Yadav in the lead up to the World Cup. Following the retirement of stalwarts – Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja in 2024, the Indian team is a work in progress and the duo have to put in place all the pieces for the defending champions when they host the ICC event at home.

England proved to be a good contest to test the players’ mettle. It was a tougher series than the 4-1 scoreline suggests. The visitors won the third game and ran India close in the second and fourth games. The first and fifth games were the only easy wins.

The coach and captain, however, were delighted by the team’s all-round showing in the final game of the series, at the Wankhede, on Sunday. They went on the attack to amass 247/9 before dismissing England for 97.

“It is the template the team management wants the side to follow,” Gambhir told the host broadcaster. “That’s the kind of T20 cricket we want to play. We don’t want to fear losing a game of cricket. We want to play high-risk, high-reward cricket. And these guys have adopted that ideology, that policy really well. And the ideology of this T20 team is based on selflessness and fearlessness,” Gambhir said.

“We want to try and get to 250-260 regularly. And in trying to do that, there’ll be games where we’ll get bundled out for 120-130. And that is what T20 cricket is all about... come those big tournaments, we want to still continue playing this way and we don’t want to fear losing anything,” said the India coach.

ABHISHEK IMPACT

The advantage for the current group is that the young batters have come up playing the high-tempo brand of the game, so it almost comes naturally to them. Abhishek Sharma is an example. Six-hitting was the feature of the innings, smashing 13 in his 54-ball 135.

Most impressive was how he dismantled in-form leg-spinner Adil Rashid. The England spinner has been miserly this series, in the fifth T20 he went for 41 runs in three overs.

Like all attacking players, being consistent will now be Abhishek’s challenge. In his second T20I match, versus Zimbabwe at Harare, he scored 100 off 47 balls. But, after that there was just one half-century, versus South Africa (50 off 25 balls), This series he has managed to tick the consistency box, topping the run charts with 279 runs at average of 55.80 and strike-rate of 219.68.

Also, after such a series, Abhishek can expect the bowlers to come up with better plans against him.

BATTING DEEP

For this gameplan to work, Gambhir said batting deep is the key. Having depth allows the top order to play freely. The Indian side generally doesn’t play more than three tailenders and Axar Patel at No 8 fits in India’s plans. “More importantly, we always wanted to have that No. 8 batter, even if he doesn’t face too many balls, just because of the kind of cricket we are playing. We want to try and go as hard as possible,” said Gambhir.

VARUN’S SPIN

India’s bowling strategy was clear – get England with spin. They stuck to just one specialist pacer and would pack as many as four spin options. But their main spin weapon was Varun Chakaravarthy, who’s unorthodox deliveries bamboozled the batters. He was accurate and the England just couldn’t read him.

In a superb show, he finished with 14 wickets, at an economy rate of 7.67. With leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi doing well in the second half of the series, India’s spin attack proved to be the difference between the two sides.

“I think having Bishnoi and Varun bowling in tandem was very important, especially in the middle phase,” Gambhir said. “We always knew that the kind of batting line-up England has, they will always come hard at us in the first six overs. But it’s that phase between 7 and 15. Can we have those two wicket-taking options in the middle?” said Gambhir.

SURYAKUMAR’S DIP

In an otherwise solid showing for the home team, the only blip was the captain Suryakumar Yadav’s inability to live up to the massive expectations that the country has from him. Call it the curse of captaincy or paying the price for being too aggressive, India’s T20 captain Yadav had a dismal series with a highest score of 14 in five outings. Opener Sanju Samson also had a below-par showing with 26 as his highest score.

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ICC Champions Trophy , ICC Champions Trophy Schedule , and Champions Trophy 2025 Points Table – stay ahead with real-time match updates, team standings, and insights. Check live cricket score , player stats, and ICC rankings of top players like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli . Get expert analysis, match previews, and in-depth coverage of ICC CT 2025 and IPL 2025, all on HT Crickit, powered by Hindustan Times – your trusted source for cricket news.

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