In Stuart Binny, India pick square peg for round hole

The request for the extra man came because of a couple of reasons. Murali Vijay’s injury was a factor. The opener missed the first Test due to a hamstring niggle. The situation is on the mend, but Vijay’s availability for the second game is still not confirmed. Shikhar Dhawan, too, batted with a bruised hand in the second innings of the first Test and there’s no update on his fitness is yet.

Also, Virat Kohli’s India want to stick to the six-five combination and the inclusion of an allrounder will allow them a little more batting depth. It, however, remains to be seen if Binny is the right man for the job.

Binny made his Test debut in England last year. He scored 78 in the second innings and had earned praise from the then Test captain MS Dhoni. “We haven’t had a seaming allrounder but Stuart Binny can be someone who can really contribute for us in the future. I don’t regret not playing R Ashwin because there was no help for the spinner,” Dhoni had said. Interestingly, Binny had bowled only 10 overs in Nottingham. In the next Test at Lord’s he had scored 9 and 0 and wasn’t given a bowl during England’s second innings. He was dropped for the next two Tests before returning for the final game at the Oval. There also, Dhoni used him sparingly as a bowler as India lost the match by an innings and 244 runs. Binny hasn’t featured in the longer format since. In three Tests, the 31-year-old has 118 runs at 23.60. He hasn’t taken a wicket.

Conditions in Sri Lanka won’t help Binny’s style of bowling. The pitch at the Galle International Stadium was a rank turner. P Sara Oval might offer a little more bounce but there will hardly be any lateral movement. Also, at Binny’s pace, reverse swing becomes redundant.

Binny, however, can be used as the second seamer, at the expense of Ishant Sharma or Varun Aaron, to take the shine off the ball. It will allow India to field three specialist spinners without compromising on their batting strength. The six-five combination will be maintained. Binny had played only four Ranji Trophy matches last season, but the year before that he made 321 runs in six matches at 40.12. So he can contribute with the bat, especially on slow and low pitches.

Also, his strong-armed method might act as a counter-offensive against the Sri Lankan spinners.

“It was a case of us not playing fearless cricket…We were tentative. We were not able to counter what was being thrown at us. We should have been smarter with how we should have gone about playing the spinners in the second innings,” Kohli said after the loss.

India are still searching for the right combination following Dhoni’s departure. Hopefully Binny’s inclusion will provide the team management with an extra option.