India’s five-match home T20I series against South Africa presents a great opportunity for Shreyas Iyer and Deepak Hooda to establish themselves as regulars in India’s shortest-format setup.
India gear up for the start of the international cricketing season post the IPL, with an eye on the T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia to be played in October-November. The team couldn’t quite live up to the expectations in the 2021 edition in the UAE, with comprehensive defeats to Pakistan and New Zealand denting their progress beyond the group stage.
A feature of India’s failure in the competition was an unsettled batting order, which crumbled against high-class swing bowling. A scrambled mindset caused them to drop Rohit Sharma to one drop in a crucial fixture against the Blackcaps, which backfired.
With the senior members being offered a break ahead of the England tour in a packed schedule, India have picked a relatively inexperienced side against the promising South Africa – a team, which despite being in transition, almost made to the semi-final at the T20 WC 2021 if not for an inferior Net Run-Rate, and stormed past India in home Tests and ODIs soon after.
The hosts are currently the top-ranked side in T20Is, with as many as 12 back-to-back wins – one away from a world record streak. They will now be up against a stiff Proteas challenge, especially on the bowling front.
Can India’s young batting line-up excel against an attack comprising Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, and the No.1 T20 bowler Tabraiz Shamsi?
The top-order, sans Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, remains crucial to India’s success, with KL Rahul set to open with either Ishan Kishan or Ruturaj Gaikwad. Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, and Dinesh Karthik are the front-runners for No.4, 5, and 6 respectively, with the latter two having rediscovered their best at the IPL 2022.
That leaves one of Shreyas Iyer and Deepak Hooda, both of whom batted at No.3 for their respective franchises, to take up the one-drop spot. It’s a choice between a highly technical proficient batter and a power-hitter, the latter forming the essence of T20 batting in recent times. But would that alone guarantee Hooda a spot?
Iyer has been in spectacular T20 form since the start of the year. He scored 25 off 16 in the only outing against the West Indies, before registering scores of 57*, 74* and 73* against Sri Lanka – making him the only batter with three consecutive unbeaten 50-plus scores in T20Is after David Warner. His strike-rate across the four innings was a high 172.18. According to CricViz, his attacking shot percentage stood at his all-time high of 53% in the time period.
A newly appointed captain for the Kolkata Knight Riders, Iyer almost single-handedly carried the side’s batting with 410 runs at 30.84 and a strike-rate of 134.56. He often walked early to the crease to face the new ball, with the side struggling with its opening combinations throughout.
Hooda, on the other hand, played a slightly different role in the IPL, despite being Lucknow Super Giants’ designated No.3 for a major part of the season. With Quinton de Kock and KL Rahul accumulating big scores at the top, Hooda had the luxury to stick to his power game, and scored 451 runs at 32.21 and a strike-rate of 136.67 in a redeeming campaign. His previous best season tally was the 160 runs he scored from 11 innings last year with the Punjab Kings, 64 of which had come in a single knock.
He’s batted just once in T20Is till date – against Sri Lanka earlier this year – scoring a 16-ball 21 from No.4 in a run-chase of 147, adding 38 with Iyer. That was preceded by a brilliant show in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2021-22, wherein he aggregated 294 runs at 73.50 and a strike-rate of 168.
Deepak Hooda in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy so far in 2021:
4 fifties in five matches and a stunning strike-rate of over 175! 💥💥💥#SyedMushtaqAliT20 pic.twitter.com/75YHWXCWPt
— CricXtasy (@CricXtasy) November 10, 2021
Both players have been relatively more destructive against spin through their careers, with their go-to shots being largely towards the on-side. They use their long reach to good effect too. While Iyer is equally adept at back-foot play, Hooda looks to generate momentum into his strokes while dancing downtown to spinners. It’s a method that has worked for him in the past, but has also caused a downfall. It might not necessarily be an efficient approach against Shamsi and Keshav Maharaj, both of whom focus on beating the batters with shrewd variations in trajectories. For Iyer, a relatively stable base helps.
Iyer’s brilliant start to his Test career, which features two quality knocks in spin-dominant conditions, has elevated his status as a top player against spin bowling if there ever was a doubt. He has scored runs against quality pace in IPL 2022, much like he’d shown those skills during India’s tour to New Zealand two years ago, and has shown attacking instincts against the quicks in recent times to great effect. For Hooda, it might still be a work in progress, and that somewhat dents his chances at the top, especially with Rabada and Nortje in operation.
Shreyas Iyer has averaged between 34 and 35 in each of the last three seasons.
The difference has clearly been the strike-rate, but who has he attacked?
Vs spin: Avg 20.7/SR 129.7
Vs pace: Avg 55.0/SR 150.0#DCvsKKR #IPL2022 pic.twitter.com/fp2uWAkJDb— CricXtasy (@CricXtasy) April 28, 2022
Delhi, Rajkot, and Bangalore – three of the five venues for the series are traditionally high-scoring ones. While Delhi and Bangalore aid batters with their pocket-sized dimensions, Rajkot is traditionally known to throw up flat batting surfaces. However, India might not be as tempted to load their batting with another power-hitter in Hooda in search of big scores, with Pant, Hardik, and Karthik almost being certainties. Iyer’s form and increased attacking intent, as mentioned earlier, further helps his case.
His all-round and superior technique should make him a definite pick for Cuttack and Visakhapatnam, where run-scoring per over stands at a low 6.45 and 5.83 from two matches each respectively – the lowest among the 24 grounds to host T20Is in the country. When India last faced South Africa in Cuttack, they were bundled out for 92 in the 18th over, a series crushing defeat, prompting crowd interruption. In their last outing in Visakhapatnam, against Australia, they stumbled from 69/1 to 107/7, and subsequently ended at a below-par 126//7.
In the long run, offering an in-form Iyer with an extended run could benefit India, with both Kohli and Rohit seemingly out of form. For now, they already have the experience of Pant, Hardik and Karthik on the power-hitting front, and can ideally keep Sanju Samson and Rahul Tripathi in the mix should that be needed at the top.
All of that only muddles it further for Hooda. Will he be backed against these odds by his IPL skipper at the international level remains to be seen. So too, his approach and adaptability against a fiery all-round attack if the opportunity presents itself.
