Does age matter at T20 World Cups? A look at India's average over the years

‘Age is just a number’ and ‘age doesn’t matter’ are two of the most overused and clichéd statements in cricket. India squad for the T20 World Cup, will have a chance to prove that these statements are just that – cliché.

India squad for the 2022 T20 World Cup has the highest average age – 30.6 years – compared to every Indian squad in the previous editions. That shouldn’t come as a surprise with too many senior players in the side.

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Arshdeep Singh is the youngest member of the squad at 23 years old. Dinesh Karthik, at 37, is the oldest. India have several players on the other side of 30 such as Virat Kohli (33), Rohit Sharma (35), Ravichandran Ashwin (36), Suryakumar Yadav (32), and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (32).

In fact, Rohit Sharma will be the oldest player to lead an Indian side at the T20 World Cup, MS Dhoni being the oldest in 2016, who was 34 then.

The Indian team that won the 2007 World Cup was the youngest with an average age of 23.6. Average age of the 2009 squad was 24.2 years, while the 2010 side was 25.8 years. The 2012 side further increased that to 28 years.

The average age of the Indian squad has been increasing with each edition, except for 2014 (when the team finished runners-up). That squad had an average age of 26.8 years. But it again increased to 28.3 in 2016 and 28.9 in 2021. The current Indian squad has crossed the 30-year barrier with an average age of 30.6 years (considering 14 players).

Historically, the two best performances for India have come with young squads.

The fans will hope that the Indian squad turns out like fine wine. Virat Kohli is still running between the wickets as he would six years ago, and the shots Suryakumar Yadav plays making the entire 360* boundary a scoring area.

Albeit, there have been several arguments that India should be playing with a younger team with so much fresh talent available.

A star is at its prime being a main sequence star (where our Sun is) or a red giant star. These stages are after their early stage of being a Protostar. The stars then diminish to being a white dwarf star and subsequently a black dwarf. Stars bigger than the Sun turn into Supernovas after being a Red supergiant star and then turn into a Black hole or a Neutron Star.

During the phase of being a main sequence star, the stars are the most balanced and stable.

Similar to the stars, while a few of Indian players – the likes of Arshdeep Singh – can be compared to a Protostar, the majority of players are Main Sequence Stars with the experience and caliber they bring to the stage. None of the players are equivalent to a diminishing or a dwarf star.

Even Dinesh Karthik, who might seem similar to a dwarf star, has been excellent with his finishing skills and the team would depend more on him than anyone else to close nervy contests.

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The fact that India squad is on the higher side on the average age than in the past should not have an impact on their performances.

Even other sides such as Australia, England, New Zealand, or South Africa, have several players in their squad on the other side of 30 and yet are at the centre of their team’s strategies.

Hence, the age shall not matter as the Indian squad, baring a few injuries, has the best available players. And when the side takes the field against its opponents, their legs will not be crippled nor their wrists be sprained.

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