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Should India have exposed its rising T20 stars to CPL?
Policy to boost on-field performance and safeguard commercial interests is a delicate balance. Invariably, commerce prevails.
West Indies may produce the best T20 power-hitters but run scoring in the Caribbean continues to be hard work. The average first innings run score in the 3 India-West Indies T20Is was 153. That’s close to the average run score (155) for T20Is played here since Jan 2021. For T20Is played in India, the corresponding score is 175.
Figuring out the right scoring tempo on slow pitches may have been a key objective for India from what is otherwise an ill-timed 5-match T20I series, two months leading up to the ODI World Cup at home. Growing in reputation, Tilak Varma would have taken mental notes of the long boundary that he couldn’t clear in the 2nd T20I at Providence Stadium in Guyana. Shubman Gill has learned some harsh lessons after poor shot selection against spin on the slow turners.
But will it be enough, when India attempts to break its T20 World Cup title drought, next year - they last won in 2007, the inaugural edition?
The recent tour is India’s last outing in the West Indies before the 2024 T20 World Cup, ten months from now. The upcoming 2 T20Is in Florida also hold significance as USA will be World Cup co-hosts.
NO EXPOSURE TO T20 LEAGUES
India could have signed up to get some of its players better acclimatised by allowing them to be available for the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) that begins on August 16. The salaries in CPL are a fraction of what the players earn in IPL. Yet, for the likes of Varma, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ravi Bishnoi - all under 23 - a month-long T20 exposure would have prepped them up a lot better for pitches that will be at play in the World Cup.
“Youngsters should be allowed to play in leagues where there is a T20 World Cup to be played, next. There’s no guarantee, but it would improve the probability of finding success,” Robin Uthappa, a member of the 2007 winning team said during commentary on Jio Cinema.
SLOW PITCHES
Experts believe a lot of pitches in the Caribbean have slowed down beyond repair. “The pitches have become slower in West Indies. They are just cutting the grass and rolling it through in the name of pitch maintenance. That’s the easiest way to prepare a pitch. Because then the pitch will become dead and slow,” R Ashwin commented on his YouTube channel.
Nicolas Pooran had spoken out in frustration against slow pitches after West Indies were blanked out 3-0 at home by Bangladesh in an ODI series in 2022.
It also explains why the CPL 2022’s average first innings score (162) was lowest in comparison to previous editions of all major T20 leagues around the world. This year’s Pakistan Premier League’s first innings score (191) was the highest followed by IPL 2023 (183).
Despite a sizeable difference of 21 runs between CPL and IPL, there’s a less significant change in runs scored in boundaries – 57.20 % to 60.20 %. It points towards the greater risk batters have to take in West Indies to break free from the spinner’s stranglehold. Spinners did 4 % more bowling in the last CPL compared to IPL and they were a lot more difficult to score against than in the IPL – ER 7.01 to 8.25.
If you expand this comparison of the last five years, 6.5 % more spin is employed in the CPL to IPL. It is on pitches such as these that the probability of a whirlwind innings like Suryakumar Yadav’s 83 (44b) in the last T20I on Tuesday becoming match-winning is greater.
Greater exposure to understanding varied conditions will add more nuance to Indian T20 cricket. Currently, BCCI’s complete veto of any T20 league other than IPL is a limiting factor as ICC takes T20 World Cups around the globe.
Many suggestions like making U23 players who are yet to become poster boys, available to specific T20 leagues have popped up in BCCI’s mailbox from time to time. But raising on-field performance and safeguarding commercial interests is a delicate balance. Inevitably, commerce prevails.
No financial interests come in the way of long-format exchange programs between boards. The improvement in India’s Test cricket and how A tours’ have aided selections is there for all to see.
