Speculation over the ODI future of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli may continue, but for India’s T20 specialists, it’s about quietly getting on with work leading into next year’s T20 World Cup.
Since India’s triumphant T20 Cup campaign last year, the young guns ensured the team won all its T20I series thereafter, including an unbeaten journey to the Asia Cup crown last month in Dubai. No wonder the Suryakumar Yadav-led unit has had almost everything right in T20Is, thanks to the consistency of Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Arshdeep Singh and the like.
The upcoming five-match T20I series against Australia, beginning in Canberra on Wednesday, will be the first assignment Down Under for players such as Abhishek, Tilak and Varun, who are all readying themselves for the 2026 T20 showpiece. However, for some players, from next year’s World Cup perspective, the upcoming T20Is against Australia carry a bit of extra importance. Sanju Samson and Rinku Singh are among them.
To talk of Samson first, the task of having to adjust in the middle order at No.5 and 6 to accommodate Shubman Gill at the top has somewhat added extra pressure on him. Before leaving for the Asia Cup, the keeper-batter, though, did bat in those positions during the Kerala Cricket League to cope with the necessary adjustments in the middle order.
In the Asia Cup, Samson batted in four innings, hit one fifty (56) in a group-stage game against Oman and finished with an average of 33. The numbers weren’t bad, but obviously, the explosiveness that’s usually a feature of Samson’s game when he plays as an opener was missed.
Against Australia too, with Gill set to continue partnering Abhishek upfront, Samson has to bat in the middle order and adjust to the requirements of that slot. “It’s never easy for an opener if he’s asked to bat in the middle order all of a sudden. But the problem for Samson is Jitesh (Sharma) is breathing down his neck,” a BCCI official told The Telegraph on Sunday.
“Jitesh was impactful in this year’s IPL (for Royal Challengers Bengaluru). Besides, he’s a tad better behind the stumps than Samson. So for Samson to keep his position safe, he has to cash in on his opportunities in these Australia games and those lined up after this tour.”
Moving on to Rinku, who faced just one ball in India’s Asia Cup campaign — that too, because all-rounder Hardik Pandya was ruled out of the final against Pakistan with a quadriceps injury — making the XI itself appears to be a difficult task.
Pandya will return once he’s fully fit, and with fellow all-rounder Shivam Dube too having the team management’s backing, where does Rinku fit in?
“Unless any of the specialist batters are indisposed, it’s difficult for Rinku to find a place in the XI. He should be there in the (World Cup) squad, though. Now, if he gets his share of chances against Australia, he has to make an impact,” the Board official stated.
