A sneak peek into India’s talent pool

India’s Twenty20 International captain played the last of his 37 One-Day Internationals some 21 months back. Their bruising young left-handed opener hasn’t yet represented the country in a 50-over international, while another left-hander who bats at No. 3 or No. 4 has been waiting to add to his four ODI caps since December 2023.

Suryakumar Yadav, Abhishek Sharma and Tilak Varma respectively are crucial cogs in the Indian 20-over wheel — Abhishek has impressed the decision-makers so much that they couldn’t fit the exceptional Yashasvi Jaiswal into their scheme of things for the T20 Asia Cup beginning next week — but they are no more than on the fringes when it comes to the longer white-ball format. They are prime examples right now of T20 specialists, though in the not-so-distant future, that could change in the case of Abhishek and Tilak, if not necessarily Suryakumar.

Contrary to expectations, India’s T20I squads in recent times haven’t always been filled with personnel exclusively cherry-picked for the shortest version alone. True, apart from the aforementioned trio, left-handed batters Shivam Dube (who also bowls reasonable right-arm medium-pace) and Rinku Singh are primarily considered only for the 20-over shootout, but there are others who figure in the 50-over action, among them Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Varun Chakaravarthy (of late) and Arshdeep Singh.

And then, there are those who are regulars in all three squads — Shubman Gill, the Test captain who is back in the T20I fold after 13 months, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav. The list would have been longer, one suspects, had Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli not retired from T20Is after the World Cup last year, indicating that while the selection committee is inclined towards plumping for experts suited to meet the unique demands of 20-over cricket, they aren’t so straitjacketed that they are willing to overlook those that are proficient in all three formats.

The Asia Cup squad comprises 15 of India’s best 20-over players, but a case can easily made out for at least another dozen players who wouldn’t have been out of place had they been picked instead. It goes to show the strength in depth of India’s 20-over resources (specific to this line of thought). Like they showed with their stunning exploits in the drawn Test series in England with several playing in that country for the first time, there are plenty of options when it comes to the red-ball version too, a tribute to India’s talent-spotting and nurturing process that is embellished by the huge pool that one can dip into.

Cliched and convenient as it might sound, the Indian Premier League has emerged as a wonderful production line that has opened up avenues for players who might otherwise have wallowed in the anonymity of domestic cricket, never mind how spectacular their exploits were. The Duleep Trophy, at one stage the final rung of the ladder in the ascent to Test cricket, is currently underway at the Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru, but it has hardly attracted any attention despite the presence of several big names. There is no telecast of the matches (the final will be an exception, we have been told).

The sprawling campus and the terrific facilities for cricketers have attracted rave reviews for great attention to even the minutest detail, but the few journalists who brave the Bengaluru traffic and travel more than 40 kilometres each way have had to contend with makeshift arrangements even though big-ticket domestic games are set to be played on a more consistent basis at the three well-maintained grounds. That just goes to show that for all the lip service to domestic cricket, there is a general apathy that starts from the top.

The domestic route was once the pathway to the national side, but it wasn’t that difficult for even special talents to slip through the cracks. Scouting wasn’t as robust a mechanism as it is today, even though things did improve once the National Cricket Academy was set up at the turn of the millennium and its Talent Resource Development Officers wing got down to business. Because of the sheer volume of matches at the domestic level, it was humanly impossible for the national selectors to be present at all venues.

Platform

What the IPL has done is provide the players who might otherwise have gone unnoticed a platform to showcase their skills to a larger global audience. The route to the IPL itself is facilitated today by the numerous state association-driven T20 leagues which serve as a feeder for the ten franchises who look for uncapped Indian talent to boost their fortunes. Gone are the days when every cricketer believed that the First Class game – with Test cricket at its apex – was the ultimate dream. Today, because the avenues are manifold and because it is possible to make a livelihood out of playing 20-over cricket alone, many (but not all) players are happy to abandon the backbreaking, spirit-sapping commitment towards the five-day game and put all their eggs in the T20 basket, which is why India is able to summon resources that might have been available in the past too, but that somehow couldn’t surface from the deep for obvious reasons.

Tilak Varma
| Photo Credit:
EMMANUAL YOGINI

Of course, this is not to say that Suryakumar isn’t desirous of playing Test cricket again (his only Test appearance was in February 2023), or that Abhishek and Tilak will turn down the opportunity, should it come their way, of donning the white flannels. Even in India, with its profusion of 20-over specialists, the allure of the Test format is still compelling. Superstars like Kohli and Bumrah, more than anyone else, have ensured that the Test cricket fire is burning bright. Kohli has been a vocal advocate and the perfect brand ambassador for Tests while Bumrah is a shining example of not taking the easy way out. Given issues with his back and the polarising fallout of his unavailability for all five Tests in England, it could have been tempting for the pacer supreme to give up the five-day game and stamp his imprint on the two white-ball formats alone internationally. But because the pull of the longest version is irresistible, Bumrah hasn’t so much as contemplated going down that route.

But not everyone is blessed with the ability, the temperament and the raging ambition to play and succeed in Test cricket; there is no shame or disgrace in that. India made their Test debut 93 years back. In all, they have played 594 Tests; Anshul Kamboj, who made an unflattering maiden appearance in Manchester recently, is only the 318th to represent the nation in Test cricket. Many of those 318 players haven’t figured in more than one or two Tests; it just goes to show that not only is it extremely difficult to breach the Test barrier, it’s equally (if not even more) tough to stay relevant in Test cricket.

A Test cap was the ultimate goal once upon a time, but it’s no longer the be-all and end-all because of the abundance of opportunities that the other two formats offer. True, 50-over cricket is in a desperate battle to stave off irrelevance and lack of context – Shreyas Iyer, overlooked for the Asia Cup, is one of the very, very few ODI specialists – and its cause hasn’t been helped by the T20 upstart, but it does assume prominence when the World Cup or the Champions Trophy comes around. Outside of these tournaments, even bilateral series between the top countries fails to evoke passion among the audiences. But clearly, that is not the case with the 20-over iteration. In India, nearly every state association has its own league, while the overwhelming success of the IPL has led to a spawning of franchise-based tournaments all over the world, further contributing to the growing hold of T20 cricket.

Active Indian players aren’t allowed to play in any of the franchise leagues outside of the IPL. The initial thinking behind that move was not just to help advance the brand of the IPL but also to ensure that the IPL as a product wasn’t diluted. India’s top cricketers will be lapped up by the Big Bash League and the SA20 and the Caribbean Premier League; by restricting their appearance to the IPL alone, the aura around them has only grown. But the IPL alone is a stage unmatched. For all his exploits at the Under-19 level, Vaibhav Suryavanshi would hardly have been a household name had he not played for Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2025, as a 13-year-old. Just a match or two would have stoked interest, but the teenager who went for Rs 1.1 crore at the auction last year made sure he left a lasting impression with a spectacular century and numerous other eye-catching performances.

Suryavanshi and his India Under-19 captain Ayush Mhatre, who too made an impression in his maiden season with Chennai Super Kings, will view a place in the Indian team as a natural progression. It might not happen immediately, but all other things being equal, they should get there sooner rather than later. Both have already played Ranji Trophy cricket for their respective states (Suryavanshi for Bihar, the 18-year-old Mhatre for Mumbai) and the Under-19 skipper filled his boots in the ‘Test’ series in England in July. Perhaps, it’s in T20s that they will break through, especially given that the Indian Test batting seems to be in good, safe, largely young hands, but they will be averse to being pigeon-holed as 20-over specialists, a luxury that might have passed the likes of Rinku and Dube by.

The vibrancy of India’s T20 cricket is dictated by the resources available. Once conservative and circumspect even in a format that discourages those traits, India have been an unstoppable force from the time they have shed their inhibitions and embraced flair, positivity and fearlessness. Few exemplify that better than Abhishek, 24, who is on the cusp of greater things with two hundreds already in his 17-match T20I career. He is currently the T20 specialist to beat all specialists, and one of the main reasons why Suryakumar’s India are so entertaining and enthralling.