The Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 is just eight months away, and after a disappointing performance in the 2021 ICC World Cup in the UAE, team India will want to put in a better showing in Australia and fight for their first T20 title since 2007.
There have already been plenty of changes across the Team India setup since the previous ICC World Cup in November as Rohit Sharma took over from Virat Kohli as captain and Rahul Dravid replaced Ravi Shastri as head coach. The new captain-coach combination have already enjoyed an excellent start to their tenure, with India winning each of their six games under the new leadership and a record nine games in all competitions stretching back to the previous ICC World Cup encounter against Afghanistan.
The Rohit-Rahul duo already seems better suited to take team India to greater heights in T20 cricket with a greater emphasis on role clarity, player empowerment and tactical superiority, and here is how team India’s T20 squad is shaping up ahead of Men’s T20 World Cup 2022.
THE TOP ORDER
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Under the Virat Kohli regime, the Indian top-order took their time at the start of an innings instead of going on the offensive from ball one, a problem that plagued the team in the lead up to the 2021 ICC World Cup. However, under Rohit, there is already a slight change in approach with team India looking to attack from the outset and maximise the powerplay instead of allowing their star batters at the top (Rohit, KL and Virat) to get their eye in and then explode.
This change can be seen in both the intent and team selection. Despite his failures in the opening two T20s against the West Indies, Rahul Dravid and India continued to back Ishan Kishan as an opener due to his extraordinary upside and ability to clear the ropes from ball one. Moreover, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have displayed much better intent in the powerplay, with the captain scoring a 19-ball 40 in the first T20 to give team India a fast start.
THE MIDDLE ORDER
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India have had a revolving door of players feature in the middle order over the past few years in T20 cricket, but following some strong performances in recent months, there is some semblance of stability in these roles.
Suryakumar Yadav has emerged as the perfect option at number four due to his outstanding ability to take on both spin and pace, and the Mumbai batter has enjoyed a stellar opening 12 months to his India career, scoring 351 runs in his first 14 T20Is at a strike-rate of 165. Similarly, Rishabh Pant has now been afforded the freedom and independence to express himself under the new regime, and the results are already starting to bear fruit. After a stop-start white-ball international career where he struggled to display consistency, Pant showed flashes of his genius in the 2nd T20I in Kolkata, creaming a 27-ball fifty to help India seal the series.
At number six, team India have been hamstrung by the unavailability of Hardik Pandya in recent years due to his back injury, but the Men in Blue finally might have found some competition for the all-rounder in this role in the form of Venkatesh Iyer. The left-hander starred in the finisher’s role in the recent series against the West Indies – scoring 92 runs in three matches at a strike-rate of 184 and picking up two wickets as the sixth bowling option at an average of 13.5 – and could be a viable alternative to Pandya at the 2022 ICC T20 World Cup.
Spinners
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India have a vast array of choices of spinners to pick from for the 2022 World Cup and are likely to play one spinning all-rounder in the squad at number seven and another specialist amongst the four bowlers.
Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar and Axar Patel are the three all-rounders in contention for the number seven spot, while Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravi Bishnoi and Varun Chakravarthy will be competing for the specialist spinner’s role in the side.
FAST BOWLERS
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Considering Jasprit Bumrah is a guaranteed starter for India, there are a group of 5 to 6 bowlers competing for two spots in the XI at the 2022 ICC World Cup in Australia. Bumrah offers captain Rohit Sharma two overs at the start and two at the tail, and to complement him well, India needs a hit-the-deck bowler who can bowl in the powerplay and the middle overs and one who can bowl in tandem with Bumrah at the death.
Harshal Patel’s emergence as a death bowler has made him a frontrunner for one of those spots, and the other pacers competing for a place include Mohammed Siraj, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur and Avesh Khan. None of the rest has made a firm case for themselves to be in the XI, but with eight months and a whole IPL remaining till the ICC World Cup, there is plenty of time for someone to jump ahead of the queue.
Following their 3-0 T20 series victory over the West Indies, India jumped to number 1 in the ICC T20 rankings. However, this team is far from the finished article as presently constructed, and there is plenty of work to be done if India wish to lift the trophy in Australia in November.
[Featured Image Credit: ANI]
Shivaan Shah