IND vs SA T20Is 2022 : Ishan Kishan or Ruturaj Gaikwad – Who should slot in as KL Rahul’s opening partner in the India Playing XI?
With each passing day, Mumbai Indians’ (MI) 15-crore punt on an underdeveloped Ishan Kishan is glaring at us as arguably one of the worst decisions ever made by a T20 side. In an overly emotional call, MI, the five-time title holders, spent one-sixth of their entire purse in bringing Kishan back into their fold for IPL 2022.
Kishan proved to be the costliest pick of the auction and, as it would pan out, on the field, too, as his 418 runs over 14 innings did more damage to MI than good. This may sound unfair to the youngster, but that is by conventional logic of a 400-run IPL campaign. The T20 logic unveils the player as the third worst batter of the league inside the powerplay overs with a minimum of 200 runs.
Despite facing the fresh new white Kookaburra ball on good batting surfaces across Maharashtra, Kishan went at a snail-like strike-rate of 112.50 over 200 balls worth of batting during the field restriction phase. It’s not that he opted to play this role, he simply couldn’t break the shackles against a varying set of oppositions.
With his struggles leaving MI in a spot amidst the parallel issues faced by their longstanding skipper Rohit Sharma, Kishan’s range stood exposed while he emerged as a match-losing player throughout the competition, ending with an overall strike-rate of 120.11.
Aged 23, it seems the idea of Ishan Kishan the dynamic player, who can help balance up XIs by also offering wicketkeeping duties, sells more than the reality of his performances on the field. And this is not entirely about one IPL season.
Take away his breakthrough IPL 2020, Kishan has a pedestrian IPL record: an average of 24.61 with a strike-rate of 127.85 over 57 innings. The post-pandemic IPL was the only one where Kishan managed to go above a strike-rate of 130 while averaging more than 30. It amounts to a failure for six out of the seven seasons of the IPL and a player with a doubtful range.
With the injury to KL Rahul ahead of the T20I series against West Indies and Sri Lanka, Kishan got a fair run of matches as the first-choice opening batter in February.
Following were Kishan’s scores in the five matches he batted: 35 off 42, 2 off 10, 34 off 31, 89 off 56 and 16 off 15 deliveries. His strike-rate of 114.28 was boosted significantly by a single knock of 89 in Lucknow versus Sri Lanka; otherwise, it fell to just 88 over 98 balls faced against two of the weakest international attacks.
From a technical point of view, Kishan struggles against any kind of movement versus pace, while also finding it an issue to deal with off-spin or wristspin. Against all fast-bowling in the IPL, over 66 innings, Kishan has just about a decent strike-rate of 135.30, which falls to 128.54 versus spin. Corresponding numbers for T20Is in India colours over 10 matches paint a more worrying image: versus spin – 109.52; versus pace – 127.92.
With Ishan Kishan failing, Ruturaj Gaikwad should get the nod for SA T20Is
Kishan is young. He could obviously uplift his game and prove to be a spectacular player going forward. But with limited T20Is up India’s sleeves ahead of a T20 World Cup, it makes sense to ask whether the selectors are expecting Kishan to bridge the gap in his range and consistency quicker than he is likely to? And if so, why did they select him for the T20Is versus South Africa rather than casting the net wide and looking for more robust batting options at the top.
With Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul playing the incumbents at the top, it would’ve made a lot of sense for the Chetan Sharma led panel to give the nod to the ever-explosive Prithvi Shaw in a 1-6 aggressor’s role. Shaw has a powerplay strike-rate of 152.84 with a healthy average of 31.56 in a difficult role since the start of IPL 2020.
The selectors, however, seem more interested in a sedate, more frequent run-scorer in Ruturaj Gaikwad, who topped the runs chart for IPL 2021 on challenging neutral surfaces and played a big role in CSK’s ascent to reclaim the title in Dubai, while also enhancing his own range with more game time.
Gaikwad has made his career IPL runs with a decent strike-rate of 130.34 while averaging 37.71 over 36 matches. His pace/spin split with the bat has gradually improved, too. Till IPL 2021, the Maharashtra young batter enjoyed a RPO of 9.25 versus spin but went at only 7.51 an over against pace. The gap reduced to a marginal extent in IPL 2022, where the CSK opener went at 130.49 versus pace, a jump of more than five runs in his rate of scoring.
Also Read – IND vs SA T20Is: Shreyas Iyer or Deepak Hooda – Who should slot in at No.3 for India?
Gaikwad is still under the process of taking his game a notch higher facing fast bowling, but what would’ve thoroughly encouraged the selectors is the way he handled Umran Malik, this IPL’s quickest speedster. Gaikwad hammered the J&K seamer for 4 fours and 2 sixes in the 13 balls he played one-on-one against the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) enforcer.
It makes Gaikwad more of a in-form, bright prospect at this stage of their respective careers than Kishan. While Gaikwad may not ultimately prove to be the solution or find to India’s search for a quality backup opener, he has a stronger case to open with Rahul against South Africa and strengthen his claims than his left-handed competitor, who is in a desperate need to uplift his range.
