At the conclusion of the record 617-run Test series against England, Yashasvi Jaiswal was a player under stress. He saw what others had missed in that series, that he had failed to cash in on the last two opportunities he had got in Indian colours before the team for the 2024 T20 World Cup was to be announced. Scores of 37 and 57 were decent performances by all accounts, but for him those were merely good starts that weren't converted into big scores.
As the latest poster-boy of Rajasthan Royals kept harping "sirf runs banane hai" during IPL 2024, the franchise freed him up to a fair extent from his sponsorship commitments. Whether he was free of that pressure in his mind is for him to reveal, but with the bat, he was a changed player. Scratchy, desperate and short of runs - far from the one whose free-flowing bat swing had demolished attacks across formats in the year leading up to that tournament. The team's early success notwithstanding, Jaiswal took seven innings before he could eventually find his groove.
He was part of a race for a spot with many contenders but no real opening. Four months later, the situation is drastically different. Opportunities have opened up and he, along with Shubman Gill, have got the first shot to claim those vacant spots
Only a day before India's first T20I against Sri Lanka, the newly-appointed captain Suryakumar Yadav asserted that under the new leadership, 'only the engine has changed, the rest of the bogeys are still the same.' It was a similar message that he had passed on to his teammates who had done well in the shortest format in recent years, of how the coaching staff will come and go, but they have to continue the practises that have yielded them positive results over all these years.
It was an interesting assessment for multiple reasons. Firstly, a new captain and a new coach were at the helm and even by initial impressions, there seem to be some notable changes. To begin with, the practice of playing four frontline bowlers along with the part-time and all-round options in the XI, a strategy used by Gautam Gambhir during his successful stints with Lucknow Super Giants and Kolkata Knight Riders, is now what his predecessors at India used. Adding to that is another past trend of Gambhir - the compulsive need to keep the left-right combination running through the top eight.
Another question is how do the bogeys remain the same when three veteran players, who have been the face of India's T20I cricket for so long, have bid adieu?
The first two bogeys on that train have already been changed, with Jaiswal and Gill slotting in for Rohit and Kohli. And the explosive power they displayed on Saturday night in the powerplay is the exact reason why Jaiswal would've felt that he had an opportunity to push his case in the Indian XI when realistically the chances were negligible.
The southpaw made his intentions clear off the first ball itself in Pallekele when he pulled Dilshan Madhushanka for a boundary. At the other end, Gill, who had intended to bring more 'intent' to his game, was cruising along in his own, unique style. A mild punch caressed through backward point, a lazy loft over mid off, a nonchalant whip over mid on, a harmless rolling of the wrist through square leg and a couple of opening the face of the bat - all earning him boundaries.
He took the bait offered to him with length deliveries outside off with the backward point vacant, teasing him to slash. He countered those effectively with controlled punches. When the bowlers changed the line and brought it closer to his body, his timing and placement continued to be his ally. He was eventually undone with a slower ball which he mistimed, but by then he had submitted his concept of 'intent' with the deftness of touch.
On the contrary, Jaiswal was displaying that same intent more conventionally with big swings of the bat, taking apart Asitha Fernando and Maheesh Theekshana. In the first 35 balls of the innings, they had powered India to 74 runs. And off the next two, they were both dismissed.
Their innings - and their partnership - probably wasn't decisive to the fate of the contest. But the tempo that they set in the Powerplay for the middle order to take over is the kind of responsibility that they will be asked to shoulder going forward.
When Rohit and Kohli had called it quits in the shortest format, the next-in-line, their backups, and some more were all screaming to take that position. Four of them even plied their trade, each of them excelling, against Zimbabwe in a recently-concluded tour. For all of Abhishek Sharma and Ruturaj Gaikwad's recent success though, it is no surprise that the first chance to replace them went to Gill and Jaiswal.
In this new era of India's T20 cricket, the early signs are that Gambhir would back his batters to take the aggressive route, with the extra cushioning in the line-up. The tempo has to be set from the top of the order, for which now the trust has been handed over to Gill and Jaiswal.
With a few performances in Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka, the duo has left a strong early impression that they are ready for the challenge. With a fairly long route to take for the next stop, if need be, there are ample options for the team management to choose from. For now though, Gill and Jaiswal, much like the team, would be breathing slightly comfortably knowing that the train is still on track and the new bogeys are well-oiled and running smoothly under pressure.