T20 World Cup 2022: Odds stack up against Team India before extravaganza Down Under

What are India’s best chances at the 2022 T20 World Cup?

There are different ways to answer that question. But in the simplest of terms, the following boxes need to be ticked:

1. At least one opener must fire.

2. Hardik Pandya needs to come good if India must reach the quarter-final stage

3. Death bowling looks ragged. So, India need to find two men who can keep things tight.

4. Spinners lack bite. Yuzvendra Chahal is leaking too many runs while Ravindra Jadeja is out due to knee surgery.

5. Ageing batters dominate in a young man’s game

6. Toss-up between Dinesh Karthik and Rishabh Pant

These factors are staring us in the face, but this leads to another question. Why is India unable to take hard calls before a major event?

It is apparent a clique of players will not drop themselves despite being out of form or struggling. They feed on past glory to the detriment of Team India’s prospects. Some even have an influence on the selectors who shy away from tough decisions.

Even removing Virat Kohli from the captaincy became such a big, muddled, and mishandled move. Should Kohli, at 33, be playing in T20 cricket when his game is a purist’s delight? Commentators gush over his straight batted shots while his cross-batted slogs evoke sighs of derision.

Rohit Sharma is 35. Clearly, he is not at the peak of his athletic prowess. Yet, he is the skipper in all formats. England, Australia, South Africa, and New Zealand have a clear-cut demarcation on captaincy between Tests and the shorter formats.

In photos | India depart for Australia to compete in the T20 World Cup

The toss-up between the wicketkeepers is an interesting one. Dinesh Karthik is 37 and late in his life he has been dubbed as the “finisher.” He is supposed to be ahead of boy wonder Rishabh Pant, who at 24, has already played 31 Test matches and is known for his scintillating hitting. Pant can be audacious and risky, but he is also the guy who can take you over the line fearlessly.

So, whom would you choose as the main wicketkeeper in the T20 World Cup? Remember KL Rahul can also keep wickets.

T20 cricket has resulted in a more athletic and explosive form of cricket. Indian fitness coach Ramji Srinivasan said in an interview that T20 had “raised the bar” in terms of fitness levels, demanding higher levels of strength, speed, agility, and reaction time from all players regardless of their role in the team.

The biggest setback so far has been losing Jasprit Bumrah. A scare has transformed into a nightmare. Bumrah has been ruled out of the T20 World Cup following his rushed return. He complained of back pain during practice. He is set to miss 4-6 months with the back injury, even if he doesn’t require surgery.

Bumrah who was ruled out of the West Indies series and Asia Cup with back injury reported to the NCA and completed his rehab. However, his return, against Australia, was possibly rushed due to the T20 World Cup. The selectors wanted him to play a few matches before the mega event.

On the other side of the order: the focus inevitably shifts towards players like Ishan Kishan and Sanju Samson. Why aren’t they even part of the reserves? Possibly, they are seen as pure IPL players. There has been a wider debate over those who can play in both formats – IPL and the national team. Those who are great league players but don’t really perform for the country. Yet, it does seem like a hard call for these two.

This brings us to KL Rahul and the associated issues of form. He has not had a great ride of late but if he is dropped then it seems like adversely affecting the morale of the team. As it would then question the wisdom of coach Rahul Dravid, BCCI president Sourav Ganguly and the selection committee.

The spinners cupboard looks bare. Chess-player-turned-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal looks flat and ordinary in recent times. Axar Patel can keep things tight. Yet, the fabled land of spinners now struggles to find genuine bowlers with loop, dip, bite, and the ability to take wickets.

The T20 format has spawned a new breed of the “4-over stars.” Spinners in this format are usually seen as flat, lacking variation, and obsessed with keeping the batters quiet. It is a strange dichotomy when some experts say India could do with an Adam Zampa like bowler. In this lab of experiments, Ashwin is chosen when everything else fails. Then his batting ability is touted as an asset.

Team India’s fabled bench strength dithers as an unsettled assembly line fails to get the desired results. Things have come to such a pass that even the selection of the great Rahul Dravid as coach in the shorter format is being questioned.

India did poorly in the last two T20 World Cups. They lost to West Indies in the semi-finals in 2016 by 7 wickets. In 2021, India were eliminated from the group stage after losing to Pakistan by 10 wickets and to New Zealand by 8 wickets.

What needs to be remembered is winning an ICC trophy is a big deal. MS Dhoni did it twice. And no wonder he is considered among the pantheon of great skippers. Try hard as much as he did, Virat Kohli never won an ICC trophy. It is undoubtedly a benchmark.

And it is exactly this springboard of ambition which drives senior players. They are desperate to be part of a major ICC trophy win.

Selectors need the courage to pick up potential outliers. It is they who can make all the difference on that day when it counts most.

Recall when needing 19 to win in the last over against England, Carlos Brathwaite of West Indies hit four consecutive sixes in the first four balls. This was the 2016 T20 World Cup final. It enabled the West Indies to win their second World T20 title. By the way, this was Brathwaite’s debut World Cup.

(Arup Ghosh is CEO of NNIS)

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