17

May

T20 SELECTIONS GET TOUGHER

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Anil Jauhri

New Delhi | Sunday | May 17, 2026

India’s next T20 internationals are overseas – 2 in Ireland followed by 5 in England.
The run filled IPL 2026 largely played on flat pitches has thrown up some exceptional performances as it always does but should these performances count toward selection for the overseas trips. If the answer is yes, how much.
Its to be remembered that what would be encountered in England/Ireland would be seaming conditions which would require technique backed batting and not the kind of slogging that we see in IPL. Domestic performances can be deceptive when playing abroad especially in England or Australis or New Zealand or South Africa. As we saw last year albeit in Test cricket where both Karun Nair and Sai Sudharashan struggled to make a mark despite heavy scoring in India.
This is one factor that the selectors would have to keep in mind while picking the squads.
Another is that there are number of claimants for each slot and hard decisions would be needed to ignore some of them – be it Krunal Pandya when Axar is first choice or Rajat Patidar when Shreyas is front runner for middle order slot or several openers when we have Sanju, Abhishek and Ishan with seasoned batters like Rahul and Gill making a strong case too.
The first question – should selectors experiment against Ireland for 2 T20 internationals – holding back some of the regulars. May be yes.
Let us look at the T20 squad which won the World cup earlier this year:
Suryakumar Yadav (Capt.), Axar Patel (Vice-capt.), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wk), Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Rinku Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Washington Sundar, Ishan Kishan (wk).
There are a number of certainties there.
Players like Bumrah, Arshdeep, Pandya and Varun can be rested. Even Sanju Samson.
This can provide opportunities for example to Jaiswal, who anyway was unfairly treated in selection having been in World Cup 2024 squad. He can accompany Abhishek as opener. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi can be given a look in too as back up.
Panday can be replaced by Nitish Reddy who has displayed improved form in IPL 2026 as a pace allrounder.
The opposition batters seem to have figured out Varun – Ravi Bishnoi could be an option.
Among pacers, Prince Yadav and Anshul Kamboj have impressed and could be sent to support Siraj.
In the wicket keeper role, either Jitesh Sharma or Dhruv Jurel could be back up for Ishan Kishan.
Even Tilak Verma can be rested and Shreyas Iyer given a slot in the middle order.
The crucial selection will be for the England series.
One question that should be asked is – what about old warhorses who have displayed excellent form even now.
KL Rahul tops that list with some awesome batting. Shubman Gill is another strong candidate. Both incidentally scored heavily in England last summer albeit in Tests. But their ability in English conditions is well established.
Bhuvaneswar Kumar is another whose swinging ability can be immensely valuable in English conditions. Same applies to Shami as a pacer.
Chahal has been a consistent wicket taker in IPL yet being ignored. How about him?
The issue is: is there a slot available for any of them?
There is some speculation about captaincy – however, you do not dump a World Cup winning captain. Although one can not say with these selectors who discarded Rohit Sharma gracelessly from one dayer captaincy after he won the Champions Trophy.
While Suryakumar Yadav deserves to be retained as captain, given his miserable form for an extended period now, he should be ready to step down midway through the series if he does not score runs.
In that case, for the sake of consistency, Axar Patel as vice captain should take charge. He at least is a certainty as spin allrounder even if his current form is a cause for concern.
In view of concerns about Yadav’s form, we need a back up middle order batter and Shreyas Iyer fits that need.
Compared to home conditions, we need to replace one spin bowler with a pacer – Sundar can be dropped and replaced by Bhuvaneswar Kumar.
Has Rinku Singh done enough to be retained or he can be replaced too? Tough question! Should we pick Rahul or even Gill who give options of flexibility in batting order. Rahul has more experience as finisher especially in one dayers and could be a better option.
What about Vaibhav who has set cricket world agog with his stupendous batting? Should we risk him in England – rather not! Give him a feel in Ireland to begin with. Next series would be in home conditions which may be right time to blood him in full scale.
This flexibility is also important since we have to remember Abhishek did not perform in World Cup until the final and if he struggles in England, we may need another opener. Or a number 3 if Ishan is pushed to open. Or number 5 if Tilak reverts to 3.
Therefore the probable squads for Ireland and England could be:
Ireland - Suryakumar Yadav (Capt.), Axar Patel (Vice-capt.), Abhishek Sharma, Yashaswi Jaiswal, Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivam Dube, Rinku Singh, Bhuvaneswar Kumar, Mohammed Siraj, Anshul Kamboj, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravi Bishnoi, Prince Yadav, Ishan Kishan (wk), Jitesh Sharma (wk)
England - Suryakumar Yadav (Capt.), Axar Patel (Vice-capt.), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wk), Tilak Varma, Shreyas Iyer, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, KL Rahul, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Bhuvaneswar Kumar, Ishan Kishan (wk).
 

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