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India debutants again ready to roll, this time in Sri Lanka
For the first time since 1980, India handed out ODI debuts to five players in Sri Lanka, and in keeping with a welcome recent trend, none looked out of place.
India has made it a habit of throwing debutants in the deep end. It has happened consistently for the past year since cricket resumed after the pandemic-forced lockdown and seldom has anyone drowned.
On Friday in Colombo, India handed ODI caps to five players - Sanju Samson, Nitish Rana, Krishnappa Gowtham, Rahul Chahar and Chetan Sakariya. The last such instance was in 1980, against Australia. But that came when India were just six years and 13 ODIs old.
The combined ODI experience of the five debutants in Colombo and three others in the playing eleven - Suryakumar Yadav, Prithvi Shaw and Navdeep Saini - was only 13 matches. It didn’t show too much as India ran Sri Lanka close before losing the inconsequential tie by three wickets.
So, what makes them tick?
The extra refinement IPL provides to white-ball internationals and A tours to red-ball exponents has been a huge factor. Cricketers have also learnt to switch and adapt to different formats far better than they did in the pre-IPL era.
Debut success in Australia 2020-21
T Natarajan’s was a fairytale ride in Australia - a Tamil Nadu Premier League find who rose from playing tennis-ball cricket in his village to make his debut in all three formats in Australia. He had made a habit of bowling accurate yorkers to top batsmen in IPL earlier. Shubman Gill played his first Test in Melbourne, held his own and went on to set up the series-winning Gabba Test with 91 on day 5.
Gill looked mature beyond his years even in the U-19 World Cup win in 2018. Mohammed Siraj was his co-debutant in the Melbourne Test. He finished as India’s highest wicket-taker in the series. He had already provided evidence of what he could do on the India A tour. The Brisbane Test and the series wouldn’t have been won without Washington Sundar, who on debut partnered Shardul Thakur for a 123-run seventh wicket stand against the fiery pace of Pat Cummins and Co. Sundar had starred regularly with the ball in IPL, while his batting exploits were down to a strong base honed in his formative years.
Debut showing against England 2021
On the home turning tracks and with Ravindra Jadeja injured, enter Axar Patel. Making the most of the pink SG ball to bowl sliders repeatedly, he snapped up 11 wickets, for 27 overall in 3 Tests. Later in the white-ball leg, Suryakumar Yadav announced his arrival by smashing the first ball he faced - the rising Jofra Archer delivery was clocked at 143.9 kph - over the fine leg boundary. Krunal Pandya scored 50 in his first ODI, Prasidh Krishna took four wickets in his first ODI, with his IPL skipper Eoin Morgan in the opposing camp. Everyone had seen them deliver earlier, in the IPL heat.
Debut heroes in Sri Lanka
No wonder Yadav took his ODI entry in the just-concluded series as another day in office. “I’ve always been batting the way I do right now,” he said. “After joining Mumbai Indians in 2018, I have been speaking with people who know me really well to take my game one step ahead.”
Ishan Kishan’ first runs against Sri Lanka in the 1st ODI came with a six, stepping out to the spinner. On Friday, Samson, Sakariya and Rahul Chahar all had good outings. Spinner Gowtham too had a wicket. It wasn’t Rana’s day, but none looked out of place. They were playing their first ODI but collectively had featured in 250 IPL matches, having often competed against bigger names than those the young Sri Lankan side could put up.
Samson at 26 already captains Rajasthan Royals with Jos Buttler, Archer and Ben Stokes in the team. He missed out on a half-century but till he was there, he was putting up an exhibition of how to maximize the scoring by using the feet against spin.
Leg spinner Rahul Chahar has dismissed some big names in IPL and should be in contention for India’s T20 World Cup squad. His 3/54 that gave nervous moments to Sri Lanka chasing down a modest total came as no surprise.
Sakariya was the least experienced of the fresh five. You could not say that though from his 2/34, which included a wicket off a back-of-the-hand slower ball. That’s how he had got Jhye Richardson out in IPL this year. He had spent the entire IPL 2020 bowling to the likes of Virat Kohli in the RCB nets, got MS Dhoni’s wicket in IPL 2021 and received his jersey as souvenir. He was ready for top-flight white-ball cricket, and that showed.
