Is India a good Twenty20 team anymore?

As India made their way to South Africa for the 2007 World T20 – they were, in the eyes of almost everyone, rank underdogs. One reason for that was they had played just one T20 International before the tournament, and everyone thought their inexperience would count against them. The other reason was that the tournament was being played in South Africa, and the perception was that India were/are ‘traditionally’ weak against pace and bounce. [caption id=“attachment_455906” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  All we can do is wish the team luck: AFP[/caption] But somehow the long-haired avatar of Mahendra Singh Dhoni managed to inspire India to victory. Yuvraj Singh’s heroics with the bat and Joginder Sharma’s last over are now part of legend. However, how has the team progressed in the T20 format after that triumph? In 2012, out of 5 matches they won 2. In 2011, out of 4 matches, they won 2. In 2010, out of 7 matches, they won 4 but of those 4 wins, 1 was against Afghanistan and 2 were against Zimbabwe. In 2009, out of 10 matches, they won 4. In 2008, they played just one match and lost it. In 2007, out of 7 matches, they won 5 and one was a tie. In 2006, they played one match and won it. So India’s record in T20: 35 matches, 16 wins, 1 tie, and 18 defeats isn’t the most impressive. Of course, there is the argument that the team doesn’t play enough T20 internationals – but then that’s true for the other teams as well. Yesterday, after arriving in Sri Lanka, Dhoni spoke about how India will be depending on it’s batting to take them to victory. But does India have the batting to strike fear into the hearts of the opposition? Apart from Suresh Raina, no other Indian even featured in the ICC’s top 10 chart for T20 batsmen. Even more worrisome is that no Indian bowler managed to even make it to the top 20 in the bowling list. India’s best bowlers according to the rankings, are Harbhajan Singh (at 21), who may not even play, and Irfan Pathan (at 30). The exploits in the IPL make it difficult to embrace reality – the numbers put up by some of the batsmen in the tournament are superb, but then they come against a mix of domestic and international players. These have the potential to be misleading. On the international scene, however, there is no ‘domestic’ player to take it easy against. You are pitted against the best and if you slip-up in a T20 match, it’s hard to recover. India’s biggest problem, however, is the lack of a bowler who can take regular wickets. The best way to slow the scoring rate in Twenty20 cricket is by taking wickets, and India doesn’t have a sure shot wicket-taker like Saeed Ajmal, Sunil Narine or Lasith Malinga. That hurts. Zaheer Khan, Lakshmipathy Balaji, R Ashwin, Piyush Chawla, Irfan Pathan, Ashok Dinda and Harbhajan Singh are unlikely to scare the opposition. But Dhoni will need them and the part-timers to come good. The batting, on the other hand, doesn’t have the manic energy of some of the other squads. Virender Sehwag has the potential, but his T20 record is pretty ordinary – 340 runs in 16 T20I’s at an average of 22.66. A lot will depend on Gautam Gambhir – he is India’s leading run-scorer in the format with 755 runs at average of 30.20. He has also hit the most fours for India – 89 – in the format. Dhoni will be around to finish things off but it is definitely more difficult to do that in T20 matches than in ODIs – less time to plan things. But India’s run in the tournament will be determined by how well the middle-order of Virat Kohli – the most in-form Indian batsman, Suresh Raina – the highest ranked Indian batsman, and Yuvraj Singh – India’s biggest hitter in terms of sixes, perform. Given the format, wickets will be lost, but India will have to recover and counter-attack through these three. The counter-attack will need to be good enough to account for the lack of a viable threat in the bowling. Captaincy won’t be an issue, but fielding will be – Dhoni has played enough T20 matches to figure out the format, but perhaps he will need to tweak his tactics. Especially if the pitches don’t support spin as much as normal. Given the format, anything goes and luck will play a huge role in India’s campaign as well. So all we can do is wish the team luck.