India are in experimentation mode ahead of the all-important Asia Cup and ODI World Cup. The team has juggled their batting line-ups in the West Indies white ball tour and have played batters out of their positions several times. Axar Patel, Suryakumar Yadav and Sanju Samson have been key points of experiments for the Indian team in the ongoing series.
Samson has played one good innings, in the final ODI match against West Indies, hitting a rapid half century in the middle order. Samson’s impetus helped India reach their highest ever ODI total in West Indies (351) which helped them clinch the decider. Barring Samson, the batting position of Axar Patel has also been under scanner with the all-rounder coming up to bat at No. 4 in the T20Is.
India spinner Ravi Ashwin has tried to make a sense of the experiments and said that India are trying to figure out different strategies in the ongoing series. Ashwin believes that India are preparing Samson for a back-up role for KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer.
“Both (KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer) of them are coming out of injuries. I think they will return during the Asia Cup only. But who is the backup for either of them? If one of them is unable to return before the World Cup, and that’s why they have tried out Sanju Samson. They also tried Axar Patel at No. 4. I think they are keeping different strategies for T20 and ODI formats,” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.
India have three more T20Is to play in the West Indies. Experiments will possibly take a back burner with the visitors 0-2 down after the first two matches. India will go hammer and tongs to win the final three matches. Amidst India’s poor outings in the T20Is, debutant Tilak Varma has been one of the bright spots for the Indian team. Ashwin lauded Varma and said that the youngster is a very different batter than the rest of the Indian players and somewhat resembles Rohit Sharma.
“The emergence of Tilka Varma has made everyone take notice of him. He looked in imperious touch even on that slow pitch in the first T20I. His batting style looked very unlike for an Indian making his international debut. His game resembles a lot of Rohit Sharma. He sweats on the pull. Generally, Indian batters won’t set up to play the pull shot. They will find the answer later as they will have all the other shots. Pull shot is something they will develop. But his game looks like has a natural pull shot and sends the ball outside the boundary rope like an Australian,” Ashwin further added in the video.
India will play their 3rd T20I match on 8 August in Guyana.
