Despite the T20I series against England being locked level at 1-1, India have played some very ordinary cricket in the series so far and it has to be admitted that they have been lucky to be in this position.
Though the Indian Test and ODI team have been playing some extraordinary cricket, in T20Is it has been a different story over the last year and a half. This is surprising because it was India that lifted the ICC World T20 2007 and showed the world how to play this format.
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Let us look at some deep strategic problems that have been plaguing the Indian team In T20Is.
#1 Opening pair
The biggest concern of the Indian team right now seems to be their opening pair. In T20 cricket, openers who can give the team a fast start and contribute a quick fire 30 while the fielding restrictions are on can be a big bonus.
The other alternative is to have an opener at the other end who plays himself in and decides to play the big knock. India's opening pair, not just in T20s but in limited overs cricket in general, remains a big concern now.
Shikhar Dhawan and Ajinkya Rahane have not grabbed their opportunities with both hands. K.L. Rahul has far too inconsistent of late and one really hopes that he can now continue from where he left off in the second T20I at Nagpur.
Virat Kohli being the aggressor at the top might not be the right option after all as the ploy has not worked so far in the series. Besides, Kohli is too important a batsman to lose in a hurry in the initial overs.
A lot will, of course, depend on Rohit Sharma once he returns from his injury.
#2 Lack of acceleration during the middle overs
With Virat Kohli departing early in both the T20Is so far, the problem of scoring fast during the middle overs seemed to be an insurmountable one for India. The likes of Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni and Manish Pandey have struggled to deliver the goods when it mattered the most.
In T20 cricket, one needs to play a high percentage of risky shots and keep scoring fast to maintain a high run-rate. With bigger bats, smaller grounds and flatter pitches, no target is big enough any longer for the opposition while chasing.
The Indian team in the series has struggled to keep scoring at a healthy rate in the middle overs. Gone are the days when you can rely too heavily on rotating the strike during the middle overs and prepare for a final assault.
The price that the Indian big guns like Raina, Yuvraj and Dhoni put on their wickets often means that they end up playing themselves in rather than going hammer and tongs during the middle overs. That often leads to the run-rate coming down from which India have struggled to recover in the matches so far in the series.
#3 Lack of maverick power-hitters
It is no secret that any good T20 team can always boast of at least a couple of dangerous power hitters who can strike fear in the heart of the opposition.
England have Jos Butler and Ben Stokes. West Indies have a team full of them who come out swinging from the very first ball. No wonder they were the best two teams in the World T20 2016.
When the Indian T20 team dominated oppositions in the 2007 World T20, they had the likes of Sehwag, Yuvraj and Dhoni. Sehwag has retired; the other two are still around albeit the fact that their power-hitting capabilities have steadily declined.
The problem with the Indian team now is that they have too many beautiful batsmen with technically correct finesse who would be more comfortable playing a cover drive or a flick through square-leg. Yuvraj and Dhoni who fall in that category; even the new age batsmen who are emerging now likes Manish Pandey and Kedar Jadhav are not much different.
When you have the flair to hit good shots, you play street-smart cricket to get a run-a-ball 50 and then go after the opposition. Which is what most India batsmen do nowadays and are tremendously successful at it in ODI cricket.
But in T20 cricket, no one has the time to play himself in -- you need to launch an assault from the time you come in. How many of the current Indian batsmen are comfortable of improvising to play a reverse sweep or scoop? Very few.
Despite years of the IPL, why haven't we produced a Chris Gayle? Or even the next MS Dhoni or a batsman like Yusuf Pathan for that matter?
The question has no easy answers. But until we find a few, we will surely lag behind in the shortest format of the game.
#4 No proper finishers in the slog overs
The lack of quality power-hitters in the side means finishing matches has become a big problem for India now. India's search for a true finisher has been on for some time now ever since MS Dhoni's powers have been on the wane.
But to find a finisher of the quality of Dhoni is no mean joke. Raina was tried in that position for some time without much success and now Kedar Jadhav is being groomed as a finisher in ODIs.
But in T20s, finishing matches does not require playing calm, calculated cricket. It also requires brute force and the ability to clear the boundary with ease. Manish Pandey does not belong to that category. Hardik Pandey has flattered to deceive and the jury is still out on him.
The fact that India sent in Manish Pandey ahead of Dhoni in the second T20I suggests that India are still depending on the latter heavily to finish matches. Which is a flawed decision because, Dhoni of late, as he has clearly shown, is more comfortable playing himself in than going after the bowlers from the time he comes in.
The result was there for everyone to see as India struggled in both the T20Is to kick on scoring around 36 runs off the last 5 overs.
From being around 100 odd in the 14th over, India are failing to kick on to score 160-plus scores. The lower middle order are more happy picking gaps and waiting for the last two overs to launch the final assault. This is tactics for which India have paid dearly so far.
#5 No out-of-the-box thinking
In a way, the Indian team surprised the world in 2007 when they lifted the maiden ICC World T20 trophy. No one had expected them to win as they had left all their big guns. But that is the thing they did differently.
While all the teams with their big stars were playing percentage cricket, India's young brand of unknown faces were playing fearlessly. By innovating, and playing selfless, eye-dazzling cricket, it was India in a way that showed the world how to play the shortest format of the game.
India in a short while became the biggest promoter of this format when they started the IPL. No wonder, India became synonymous with T20 cricket. But ironically, all teams have now taken a leaf out of our book to perfect the art while India have fallen behind.
The reason is simple: most teams do not have such a rigid, complicated approach to playing T20 cricket. They pack their teams with T20 specialists who are young big-hitting all-rounders.
India seem to have fallen behind in this regard as even after years of the IPL, we have struggled to produce proper T20 specialists or big-hitting all-rounders. The core of the Indian team that plays Tests, ODIs and T20s is the same.
Unlike India, not many teams still have players from the last decade who are still their most reliable all-rounders and power-hitters. The lack of new, emerging all-rounders has been a big problem.
It is sad to see that Rishabh Pant who has been in great form in domestic cricket has failed to get a game so far. Nor is there much flexibility to India's thinking like have floaters in an unpredictable batting order.
In fact, a sense of predictability has crept into the extent that the opposition knows who would come in to bat next or the fact that the next batsman would inevitably play himself in and never go for a reverse sweep.
India lifted the World T20 when they dared to think out of the box, a practice which is out of fashion now in a team that plays predictable and old-fashioned cricket in T20Is.
It is important to remember here that India were almost knocked out ignominiously in the early stages of the World T20 2016. It was only luck and the sheer brilliance of Virat Kohli that carried them through.
Kohli's superhuman form had helped gloss over the problems in India's T20I team. It's only when he fails that the problems become all too visible.
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