If the tickets of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma to the T20 World Cup are indeed confirmed, a couple of ducks are unlikely to matter much to the selectors. And it seems to be a package deal, regardless of their respective performances or scores. It forces the younger batsmen, who have done little wrong in terms of output as well as intent in the opportunities they have got, to audition against each other.

Both veterans seem to have read the room about the strike rate, judging by the ugly hoick that Rohit attempted to be bowled first ball, after the run-out in Mohali, and the uncharacteristically ultra-aggressive approach from Kohli from the outset. Needing 173 to seal the series against outclassed Afghanistan, Kohli and Yashasvi Jaiswal provided the impetus that took away all the pressure from the chase, which was completed with as many as 26 balls to spare for a six-wicket win.

With two slots seemingly non-negotiable, Jaiswal and Shivam Dube seemed to be trying to outdo each other in their partnership as they aimed for the boundary and beyond on every ball. With Tilak Varma and Shubman Gill – who ran Rohit out in the previous game – making way for Kohli and Jaiswal, and Suryakumar Yadav certain to get back in once he recovers from injury, there will be a few deserving candidates left disappointed when the time comes to make selection calls. There’s also the small matter of adjusting Hardik Pandya, if and when he becomes available in time for the T20 World Cup. There’s only one more T20I left to play before the mega event, which puts a whole lot of significance on what all the contenders do in the IPL.

Up, Up and Away!

Three consecutive monstrous SIXES from Shivam Dube ???? ????????#INDvAFG @IDFCFIRSTBank pic.twitter.com/3y40S3ctUW

— BCCI (@BCCI) January 14, 2024

On Sunday in Indore on a small ground and flat pitch, chasing a score that was considerably below par, the two Mumbai left-handers did a demolition job, matching each other shot for shot. If Jaiswal reached his fifty in 27 balls, Dube got to the landmark in 22. The Afghan bowlers hardly helped their own cause by serving up length balls. Without the injured Rashid Khan in their ranks, they seemed bereft of ideas and inspiration. The veteran Mohammad Nabi was on the receiving end of Dube’s onslaught, being clobbered for three consecutive sixes.

Jaiswal and Dube (63 not out off 32 balls) added 92 runs in 42 deliveries before the former departed for a 34-ball 68. Jitesh Sharma followed soon for a duck going for a big shot over mid-off when he could have seen the team past the finish line. Maybe, the narrowing window of slots has made everyone a bit more desperate to showcase their hitting ability, even when it’s not needed.

Reliable performer

Earlier, it was another T20 bowling clinic from Axar Patel, who is fast becoming India’s banker in the format. So much so that he is likely to pip Ravindra Jadeja to the spot of the spin-bowling all-rounder. On a surface that hardly provided him any assistance, the Gujarat left-arm spinner came away with figures of 2-17 from his four overs.

He is not known to be a big spinner of the ball, but by bowling stump to stump and changing his pace, trajectory and angles, he kept the Afghan batsmen guessing. The visitors, put into bat for the second successive match, went into their batting innings with much more attacking intent than was evident in Mohali, as they reached 50 in five overs.

Axar came on to bowl in the last over of the Powerplay and was done inside 12 overs, but the damage he inflicted on the Afghan momentum was so much that even the experiment to have Dube bowl the 19th over – which didn’t go to plan as 20 runs were conceded – couldn’t get them to a remotely competitive total.

The tall Gujarat bowler, who seems to have become every captain’s go-to man when a rampaging opposition batting line-up needs to be pegged back, answered Rohit’s call again. He got hit for just one boundary in his spell, off the final ball of the Powerplay when there was no fielder on the deep midwicket fence. Axar put the struggling Afghanistan captain Ibrahim Zadran out of his misery, slowing the pace considerably and getting the ball to straighten ever so slightly to hit off-stump.

All the momentum in the first half of the Afghan innings was courtesy Gulbadin Naib, who hit an enterprising 57 off 35 balls, reaching his half-century in 28 deliveries. But he hardly got any worthwhile support and when Axar induced him to shovel a length ball outside off-stump into the hands of short midwicket, it was clear that Afghanistan were going to fall well short of where they needed to be.

Arshdeep Singh kept it relatively tight in the death overs, helping himself to a three-wicket haul in the process, reminding the decision-makers that he remains an option when the time comes to select those who will make it to the Caribbean and the United States in the summer.