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Hardik’s replacement: Surya hit in the nets, Ishan stung by bee
The all-rounder's injury means India must find the apt No.6 batter as well as the third pacer as they face New Zealand on Sunday
India knew they had a selection conundrum going into Sunday’s game against New Zealand after Hardik Pandya suffered an ankle injury versus Bangladesh in Pune. Pandya provides the kind of balance nobody else does – as a batter at No. 6 and as a seamer who gives India the luxury of six bowling options. He will rejoin the team in Lucknow ahead of the game against England, but before that a suitable fix had to be found against table-toppers New Zealand.
That conundrum has been complicated by an action-packed training session at the HPCA Stadium on Saturday. Suryakumar Yadav, widely expected to come in at No. 6 in Pandya’s place, was barely ten minutes into his net session when a full toss by throwdown specialist Raghu struck his right wrist. Surya went down on his knees in pain and stayed there for a couple of minutes before drawing the attention of the support staff.
An ice pack was placed on the wrist for some time, but he didn’t walk back into the nets to resume batting. As he headed back to the dressing room, Surya seemed to suggest to one of the broadcast crew members that he was okay.
If that wasn’t enough, Ishan Kishan was stung by a bee on the back of his head prior to Surya’s short batting stint. Kishan batted for around 20 minutes and was beaten a few times before his net session was cut short. Kishan was still rubbing the back of his head while getting back to the dressing room. In case both are unavailable, India may be forced to go with R Ashwin at No. 7 and Ravindra Jadeja at No. 6, a spot higher than where either should ideally be batting.
None of this is desirable for India. An hour before their optional session turned interesting, coach Rahul Dravid said they knew their playing eleven without willing to divulge it to the media. He though admitted that whichever team they choose, the ideal balance will be lacking in Pandya’s absence.
“Yeah, he is an important all-rounder, so helps us really balance our squad out. But he is going to be missing this game, so we will have to work around that and see what’s the best combination. We will have to see what works best for these conditions. But yeah, probably might not have the kind of balance that we probably used in the first four games,” he told reporters on match eve.
For No. 6, Dravid did indicate that Surya was the preferred option. While Kishan could be in contention as a left-hand batter against New Zealand’s left-arm spin duo of Mitchell Santner and Rachin Ravindra, Surya is a more natural fit at a position that requires you to tee off immediately.
“I mean, it is nice to have Ishan. And he's been playing well. He's a left-hander. But again, Surya has also come into some great form against Australia (in the bilateral ODIs), as we saw. He played a couple of fantastic innings. Absolutely fantastic player against spin, as we know. Against left-arm spin or off-spin, or any kind of spin, for that matter. If you are looking for someone who might be a bit of an enforcer in the lower middle order, then Surya is certainly someone who can do that. If you are looking for someone a little higher up the order, then maybe we might go with Ishan,” Dravid said.
The other debate is to do with the third pacer alongside Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj. While Shardul Thakur has been preferred so far because of his batting ability at No. 8, the absence of a sixth bowling option may nudge India into bolstering their pace department by playing Mohammed Shami.
Shami, Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav and KL Rahul didn’t train on Saturday.
“Obviously the three seamers, having someone like Shami sitting out there and bringing him in this game is a great option,” Dravid said. “In some cases, there is Ashwin who has been sitting out, who has great quality as well. So, there are two or three combinations we could use till Hardik gets back.”
