DHARAMSHALA: By the time the Indian team reached the HPCA stadium on Saturday evening, the temperature here in the hills had started to drop. As the three-and-a half-hour long practice session progressed in chilly weather, the jitters in the Indian camp became apparent. South Africa have managed to reveal India’s deficiencies in more ways than one would have expected on this tour. Seldom does the Indian team go through a practice session as extensive and in tense on a match eve as it did on the eve of Sunday’s third T20I.As is the norm with this team, it was officially an optional session. But only Tilak Varma and Arshdeep Singh skipped the session. The South African team, on the other hand, took the day off and went hiking in the hills. They feel they are in a better space with the series locked at 1-1.
The T20 team under coach Gautam Gambhir seemed to be on auto-pilot mode for over a year. However, two months away from the T20 World Cup, problems have surfaced. It starts with the struggles of captain Suryakumar Yadav and vice-captain Shubman Gill and spills over to some incomprehensible strategies and selections.Saturday was more about going back to basics. When Washington Sundar was padding up at the top of the nets session, Hardik Pandya approached him and cautioned him, “This is a pitch where you have to be gutsy.” The pitch here has historically yielded big scores. But one can never discount the amount of movement and bounce the venue offers to the bowlers. The focus of the nets sessions was on polishing every batter’s technique. Once Sanju Samson and Washington Sundar were done with their batting in the nets, Surya and Gill hogged the attention for the rest of the evening. They hopped all four nets. Surya, in fact, batted for well over 90 minutes — that’s how long an entire team’s T20 innings lasts. They went through drills that are seen more at the academy level, where one works on the nuances of batting technique. Gill and Jitesh only joined Pandya for a range-hitting session under lights at the centre square after a thorough session of old-school batting in the nets.Surya, for one, eschewed his trademark pick-up ramps and swipes behind square on the on side against the pacers. The vertical bat and a compact defence were the order of the day. He did get into a phase where he dealt in sweeps and lap shots against the spinners. As he started to get beaten frequently, he switched to playing down the ground and practicing the inside-out shots over cover.Surya is the designated No. 3 in this batting lineup. But Axar Patel coming out to bat at No. 3 in the second over in the previous match must have hurt the egos of the frontline batters. Tilak Varma expectedly put it down to the team’s much-hyped flexibility.
“I’ve told the team that I can bat in any situation. But we want to be flexible. Axar has done a good job for the team in the T20 World Cup. So, one has to be ready for whatever the team needs. But I don’t mind doing that job,” Varma said on Saturday.Playing the moving new ball has been a major problem. Gill just stuck to punching the ball off the back foot. His frailties against the new ball pitching on a good length are well documented. The deliveries outside off have begun to catch the outside edge more often. Thus, one saw him working overtime on backfoot punches square of the wicket and uppercuts to make use of the field in the powerplay. As Surya retired to the dressing room, Gill hung back for a long and intense chat with Gambhir and assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate. For one who is obsessed about his batting, Gill must be aware there isn’t much time for him to iron out the chinks in his batting. As India try to find their best T20 game, South Africa seem to be more in control. “It might look as if we are slightly unsure given the amount of changes, but we have a pretty good idea of what our World Cup squad will be like,” South Africa coach Shukri Conrad said.
