Momentum is not something that you can see, rather something you feel.
While it’s not tangible, its presence is tough to ignore. Once you have it on your side, things start falling in a place on their own. And that’s the feeling you get with the Indian team that laid waste to Australia in the recently concluded T20 series.
It’s not often that a tour of Australia has two completely unconnected halves, for if you start losing in Australia it’s almost impossible to recover. Not many expected India to bounce back the way they did after getting hammered in the ODI series, but that they did.
The fact the hosts did not play their first XI and made changes in every single game helped India’s chances but to undermine India’s performance would be unfair.
Those T20Is have finally pieced the jigsaw together and now India at last has an understanding of the squad searching for T20 glory on home soil.
And India becomes World Number 1 in T20 #ICC Rankings...now, the real prize in April--World T20.
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) January 31, 2016India is really close to knowing its best T20 XI...Australia, on the other hand, couldn't be further away after these three games!
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) January 31, 2016Batting
The shortest form of cricket needs only three batsmen in top form, the rest can bat around them. Once three are scoring heavily and at a fair clip, the rest can bat with a lot of freedom. That’s how Kings XI managed a podium finish in IPL-7. Miller, Maxwell and Bailey were the main protagonists who either set or chased big totals. I’m getting a similar feeling from this Indian team in which Rohit, Kohli and Raina are likely to set the tone for the rest. All of them have form on their side, have the ability to hit the big shots and once set, have the tendency to finish off games. If they manage to keep their form intact for the next two months, India will have a fair chance of repeating the heroics of 2007.
Bowling
Batting wins matches, bowling wins tournaments. While batting is traditionally India’s strongest suit, it would be naive to believe that they can win the World T20 on their own. Their bowlers will have to start contributing but, unfortunately, that’s likely to happen only if the pitches are favourable. Indian bowling needs either something from the pitch or the pressure from the scoreboard to take control of the match. It is in their best interests to prepare spin-friendly pitches and at the end of a long season and it shouldn’t be too much to ask of the curators. Once the ball starts turning, the spin trio of Ashwin, Jadeja and Harbhajan will be too hot to handle. And if pitches are conducive to spin then it should allow the two part-timers in Yuvraj and Raina to come into their own. But it’s not just about the spinners and that’s where these three T20s have contributed immensely. The comeback of Nehra and the rise of Bumrah have given India a much needed boost in the seam department.
The road ahead
The fixtures committee deserves a pat on the back for arranging lots of T20 matches leading up to March’s tournament. Earlier, the most common gripe was that Indian players were match-winners for their respective franchises but somehow couldn’t click as a national team. The format demands a clear demarcation of roles and that can only happen if the unite is cohesive, which didn’t happen often in the past. However, with better preparation there is an opportunity to not just allow people to cement their places and identify their roles, but also get people back in form. Moving forward, it’s imperative for Dhoni to find ways to make Yuvraj bat higher up the order and get Pandya a decent hit. You really don’t want a situation where people are slightly under-cooked going into a tournament.
