High player turnover is no problem for India in T20s

This high inflow—and by extension, turnover—is not the outcome of a team that is struggling to win games. In fact, it’s the opposite. India has also amassed the best record during this four-year period. The high inflow and turnover is a reflection of the riches of T20 talent in India that is breaking out and announcing themselves on the platform that is the Indian Premier League (IPL), the growing demands of international cricket and the painstaking quest to finetune and get the right combination for big tournaments.

High Turnover

Among leading cricketing nations, India has played the maximum number of T20 matches since January 1, 2021. India’s count was 110 matches, or roughly about 25 matches per year. The next best was Pakistan (93 matches) and West Indies (89 matches). In these 110 matches, 36 players from India made their debut. Pakistan is the next best, with 29 players. Lower down, England and Australia have had only 16 and 18 players made their debut, respectively, since 2021.

The Indian T20 side did not have this kind of inflow and turnover in the period till 2020. Countries started playing T20 cricket in the 2005-06 period. In that broad 15-year period till end-2020, 83 players played T20 internationals for India. As many as seven countries registered a greater count of players than India. For India, this was also an era of superstars like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina, who cemented their T20 spot for many years.

[Chart 1]

Succession Planning

During that period, in the international arena, T20 was still a format that was number three in priority. It peaked principally around multilateral tournaments, but commanded relatively less cricketing importance in bilateral ones. During this period till 2020, India had a winning rate of 62%, which was still the highest among all teams.

Yet, when the stalwarts left one by one, and younger and less experienced players took their spot, India didn’t drop off in performance. In fact, its winning rate has improved to 72% in the post-2020 period—and it’s opened up the distance to the next-best team in this period, which is Australia (60%). In other words, India has managed the T20 transition well. It’s got a robust pool of players that are not only competing for spots but several are also delivering at a high level in the limited opportunities they get.

[Chart 2]

Depth in Ranks

The primary cricketing skill in which the limits of opportunities are felt the most is batting. Take India’s ongoing series against England, where India has adopted a strategy of pursuing all-rounders over pure batters, as well as giving some of its established players who are also in the reckoning in other formats a break. India has also been hit by injuries.

Due to this confluence of factors, consider the seven batsmen who made their debut for India after 2020, and average above 30 while playing for India, and have not found a spot in the playing eleven. Their T20 strike rates range between 139 and 180, which is good. Of these seven, Rinku Singh and Nitish Reddy are injured, while Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal have just returned from a long tour to Australia. But even a player like Ruturaj Gaikwad, who captains Chennai Super Kings, is unable to get a look in at the moment.

[Chart 3]

Strong Core

Some of the explosion on the batting side can also be attributed to the Indian Premier League (IPL), where average run rates have scaled new highs in the last three years. By comparison, stocks of similar players are thinner on the bowling side. There’s only a handful of fast bowlers who debuted for India after 2020 and made an impression, but are unable to get more T20 games—Mukesh Kumar, Avesh Khan and Harshal Patel.

One reason for that is that even with the high number of new selections, India is giving half its players more games than any other side. This is partly because it is playing more T20s and partly because it is giving players who fit into the scheme of things a fair shake. But ultimately, there are only so many spots in a cricket team, and a fair shake it may not always seem.

[Chart 4]

www.howindialives.com is a database and search engine for public data