Asia Cup 2022: KL Rahul, Virat Kohli knocks underline India's need for more flexibility in T20

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Bengaluru, September 1: KL Rahul looked absolutely posh while smoking Aizaz Khan for an 83-metre six over mid-wicket. It was a perfectly aligned shot — timing, bat speed and hand-eye coordination fell in place like a well-drawn picture.

The frame was worth freezing too. If you have seen that shot in a highlight package, it would have been difficult to fathom that Rahul had made a 39-ball 36 at a strike rate of 92.30.

His struggle was evident against Pakistan too in the Asia Cup 2022 opener as the India batter edged Naseem Shah on to his stumps for first-ball 0. Rahul had similar underwhelming outings against Zimbabwe too last month, albeit in ODIs.

In his defence, Rahul can point to the fact that he is coming off a pretty long layoff period after the IPL 2022, and there was also a Covid-19 recovery period.

“He (KL Rahul) is coming after an injury and he needs some time now, we have time right now. Things will go on, there are lot of things we are trying and experimenting. There are things that we want to do and it's better to try those things in matches rather than in practice sessions,” said Suryakumar Yadav in the post-match press conference.

So, it is not exactly easy for a batsman to find his range from the word go, and the pitches in Harare and UAE have not been an ally of batsmen either. They were a tad sluggish and the batsmen needed to find ways other than normal to score runs on them.

Both Rahul and Virat Kohli, who himself is trying to return to the run-making ways, could not force their way against a set of honest Hong Kong bowlers like medium pacer Ayush Shukla, left-arm spinner Yasim Murtaza and off-spinner Ehsan Khan.

And we are talking about two players who boast of T20I career strike rate of 140 and 137. But here the Rahul-Kohli combine made 56 runs but consumed 52 balls during the second wicket alliance. In fact, India was in a marshy land at 94 for 2 at the end of 13 overs.

It could have been proved costly against a side with better bowling resources like South Africa or Australia, as someone like Suryakumar or Hardik Pandya would have been cramped for overs to make an impact and the risk factor in trying to do so too would have been higher.

Suryakumar showed how to tame a tacky pitch and a group of thorny bowlers. He started off the block playing a clutch of sweep shots, in fact 4 off the first six balls he faced, and three of them fetched boundaries too.

“Some of them (shots) are predetermined, this format is all about what you think and how you prepare before you go out to bat. At the same time, you have to stay in the present.

I felt the wicket was a bit slow. My plan was clear. My role was to go in and take the tempo up and just express myself, I just loved it.

While batting, you got to be flexible, you should be equipped to bat at any number and I have opened as well. I have batted at all numbers. I really enjoyed it,” said Suryakumar in the post-match presentation.

Flexible is the key word here. Suryakumar did not limit himself to one particular area to score runs. There was a scoop over wicketkeeper, a six over point, a six in the V and shots to every other possible areas of the Dubai cricket stadium.

Whereas Kohli and Rahul tried to score their runs more through the conventional areas inside the V or square through the leg side, and Hong Kong were good enough to close the gaps in those slots.

Suryakumar hammered 12 boundary shots in his innings, while Kohli and Rahul together managed 6 such shots. This is not to say that Kohli or Rahul will have to alter their style of batting considerably, trying to replicate those 360 degree shots like SKY.

But they will have to be flexible with their scoring options now as India is trying to adopt a different, more aggressive philosophy in T20 cricket with ICC T20 World Cup 2022 in mind.

It will be possible only when they have a top order that can fire in unison. You cannot have 2 or 3 batsmen going the conventional way at the top, while wait is on for the middle/late order to fire and take the team to a healthy total.

India captain Rohit Sharma indicated as much in the post-match presentation.

“We have also informed the group about this (flexibility in the batting order) as well. Most of the guys are ready to take the opportunity and be ready to bat wherever required. That’s the flexibility we need. We’ll take those chances. We are going to try and use the right match-ups,” said Rohit.

Implementing this doctrine at the earliest would play a vital role in India’s campaign in the ICC T20 World Cup 2022.