Traditions threaten to tamper with Gambhir’s tenets as Indian T20 revolution looms

In 2019, Sanjay Manjrekar called Ravindra Jadeja a ‘bits and pieces cricketer’ and the remark created such a furor that the broadcaster is still giving clarifications about his comment six years later. While Manjrekar uttered his words with respect to ODIs, he was not wrong as far as the shortest format is concerned. In 74 T20Is, Jadeja managed 54 wickets and scored 515 runs, averaging just under 30 with the ball and a little over 21 with the bat – perhaps the textbook definition of a ‘role’ player. Yet, the all-rounder retired as a mainstay in the World Cup-winning Indian team in 2024, despite scoring just 35 runs and taking a solitary wicket across eight games in the tournament.

That is because Jadeja dealt in the two primary currencies of T20 cricket – impact and flexibility. Stop-gap after a top-order collapse, a pinch-hitter lower down the order, or a spare bowling option to disrupt opposition momentum, the veteran could do it all. Unlike red-ball cricket, sustained quality takes a backseat in the shorter format, for all it takes is a 10-minute passage of play to flip a game on its head. In a Test match, a bowler could bowl five riveting new-ball overs for two wickets, yet if he fails to get success in the succeeding spells with the old ball it could mean little. In T20s, an eight-ball cameo can turn a subpar 140 into a competitive 160-plus. Two new-ball wickets can dispatch the opposition’s entire game plan and turn a potential 180 to 150. 

In my eleven, he's [Ravindra Jadeja] not batting at No.7. I don't think he's good enough to bat seven in a World Cup side. He's proven that with his strike rate. You need an impact-type player batting at seven.

Tom Moody raised fewer eyebrows when he said this before the 2024 T20 World Cup

Think of some of the names that have become synonymous with T20 cricket – Rashid Khan, Dwayne Bravo, Sunil Narine, Shakib Al Hasan, Andre Russell. All of them can win games regularly on the back of their specialist attributes, but it is their ability to provide impact with the secondary skill that has made them world-dominators in franchise cricket. When two relatively well-matched teams face each other, the weakest link on each side can often dictate who ends up on top. In T20 cricket, the margins between teams are inherently reduced because of the condensed timespan, making ‘bits and pieces’ performances the underwhelming cornerstone of success. However, the basic principles of team selection hold with six specialist batters, more often than not including the wicket-keeper, and four bowlers who assure you a complete quota each game. That leaves open the number eight – a spot where rotations offer infinite possibilities, beyond the face value of raw numbers.

The West Indies were perhaps the first national team to grasp the importance of impact players in T20s. In the 2012 World Cup, the Caribbean outfit packed themselves with six all-rounders, allowing them to slot Denesh Ramdin in as low down as eight. Next edition’s champions Sri Lanka reverted to using a specialist bowler in Nuwan Kulasekara at eight, but the pacer anyway needed to bat just five balls in the entire tournament. Four of those came in the opener against South Africa – Kulasekara managed to smash a maximum, and his team won by five runs. Every T20 World Cup winning team has since had batting at least till eight, with England taking it to new extremes by batting Adil ‘10 first-class tons’ Rashid at 11 in 2022. 

Yet, the increased batting depth phenomenon is yet to peak. Between the 2016 and 2024 World Cups, the top T20I teams fielded an all-rounder at eight in nearly 70% of games. Since the latest event though, that number has bumped up to 77%. Similarly, players at number eight have faced nine balls on average when their teams have batted first and struck at 127.91 – the corresponding numbers for the previous cycle were 6.5 balls and 116.05 respectively. An extra batter lower down the order not only extends the line-up but also gives batters up top the confidence to go harder than ever before, with global powerplay strike rates surpassing 130 for the first time ever in a World Cup cycle (136.11 since 2024 T20 WC).

All trends thus suggest that batting till eight is a given in the modern T20 world, as it has been for a while now. It is not how India have historically operated though, largely relying on conventional wisdom where they pick their five best bowlers, with any all-rounders taking up the specialist batter spots. Of the seven players with 15+ games at eight for India since 2016, four are specialist bowlers (unsurprisingly, Jadeja is second on the list with 20 games). In the past two World Cup cycles, India named an all-rounder at eight in 7% and 39% of games respectively – South Africa and New Zealand are the only two teams below 50% in the same timeframe. On the other end of the spectrum, England and West Indies played an all-rounder at eight in 98% and 96% of their games respectively. 

If you are going to depend on No. 8, what does it tell you about your top 7 then? Is the management saying that they don’t have confidence in their top 7 in a 20-overs game?

Sunil Gavaskar in 2024 voices the ubiquitous Indian outlook to batting depth in T20s

This attritional outlook to batting depth is a product of the Indian cricket ecosystem. Due to the ungodly size of the country’s talent pool, specialist talents rise through the ranks quicker and dominate the highest echelons of domestic cricket. The early advent of the Indian Premier League further exacerbated the issue, as an influx of foreign all-rounders perhaps incentivized upcoming players to hunt for the numerous specialist slots rather than compete with well-established ‘role’ superstars. Since 2016, 14 players have played 20-plus games in the IPL at number eight. While all seven foreign nationals are all-rounders, six of the seven Indians that have managed to secure the elusive spot are specialist bowlers or wicket-keeper batters, with Shardul Thakur being only the player who can both bat and bowl. Now, with the introduction of the Impact Player rule, all-rounders have further slid into oblivion in the premier T20 competition, as can be observed from the reduced bowling workloads of Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, and Vijay Shankar amongst others.

On the flip side, the nations in the lower half of the top-10 in T20I rankings abound in these players. The reasons can be numerous – lower level of batting talent allows bowlers to hone their skills with the bat from a younger age while specialist bowlers get hit more often allowing part-timers to come into the action. Since 2016, India has used a sixth bowler when bowling first in 58% of their games; Afghanistan have done so 86% of times – highlighting both the immense flexibility of the Afghan team and their lack of confidence in the five primary bowlers. Yet, India have used 22 different bowling options apart from the first five compared to just 10 for Afghanistan. Interestingly, England have shown the least variance with 15 options used in the 54 games where more than five bowlers have bowled despite boasting more all-rounders than any other team. Clearly, the British walk in with a set game-plan if their main bowlers go awry, while India like to leave it up to fate once Plan A goes a-beggin’. 

As a group we have decided to bat with seven batters and we have to take responsibility, like it happened today if the batters score runs then you don't need someone at number eight.

Briefly Indian T20 skipper Hardik Pandya refuses to relent after two losses against WI in 2024

Even the other countries adamant on fielding their five best bowlers have taken counter-measures to be in-tune with the modern T20 world. Pakistan have groomed Shaheen Afridi into a genuine six-hitter, while Pat Cummins has evolved as a match-winner with both bat and ball at number eight. The numbers might not show it yet, but the likes of Gerald Coetzee can also produce vital cameos at eight when required for South Africa. India, on the other hand, saw Ravindra Jadeja’s explosive abilities shrink even while his reign at eight grew, while their best fit for the role in Hardik Pandya briefly transitioned to an anchor to further add to an overcrowded top-order. While the global balls per boundary average has fallen consistently over the years for batters between seven to nine, India were the only top team to experience an uptick in that number cycle upon cycle.

This is where Gautam Gambhir enters the fray. Ever since the Delhi-batter first became captain at Kolkata Knight Riders in 2012, he was earmarked as a pioneer in terms of team selections. When most sides were still following conventional templates, Gambhir took inspiration from the Windies to field as many six all-rounders in some games with batting till 10, with no line-up having less than eight batting options or four all-rounders. The tenet continued right through his tenure at the franchise, paving the way for the ‘bits and pieces’ T20 players like Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Ryan ten Doeschate, Sumit Narwal, Ryan McLaren, Azhar Mahmood, and Rajagopal Sathish to stake a place in the XI. When he returned to the Eden Gardens as mentor in 2024 to lead them to a third title, Ramandeep Singh fulfilled the same role with grand success for the team.

However, at KKR, Gambhir already had a secure legacy, a long-dated relationship with the owners and management, as well as the freedom to make the final decisions with regards to team combinations. Now, as India head coach, his challenge is much steeper but the 43-year-old has shown no signs of giving up his core ideals. Since he took over, the Men in Blue have fielded a specialist bowler at eight in only four of their 20 T20Is – an unprecedented 80% for the nation. In as many as five games, India used seven bowlers while only two games saw the overs being split amongst the five primary options. No wonder then that a part-timer Abhishek Sharma averages around seven deliveries per appearance when playing for India as compared to four balls per game in the IPL.

This slight tactical shift has already brought India extraordinary success. Four of their five highest totals in T20I history have come in the last year and a bit, while games per individual hundred has fallen from 15 before his tenure to less than every three games under Gambhir’s oversight. India’s powerplay strike rate of 152.22 is the third highest amongst all teams in the current cycle – and a far cry from 127.54 and 129.23 in the previous two cycles respectively. All that has culminated in 17 wins in 20 games spanning four series, including a 4-1 battering of England at home and a 3-1 triumph in South Africa.

Gambhir’s ultimate test is bound to be the 2026 T20 World Cup, which would undoubtedly define his legacy as India’s white-ball coach. His first major step towards defending the title is the upcoming Asia Cup, and the squad selection suggests the coach is willing to stick to his guns for the foreseeable future. However, conditions in the UAE will be difficult to navigate, as low-scoring games might tempt the team to field five specialist bowlers. It does not help either that the present pick at eight is likely to be Harshit Rana, who has less-than proven credentials with the bat in the shortest format albeit his ability to clear the ropes is far superior than his fellow pacers. The other alternative is Shivam Dube, who faces the same dilemma with the ball while his batting form has also left a lot to be desired. Only time will tell if Gambhir can stick to his philosophies and invoke a wide-echoing change in the Indian T20 landscape.