Can India overcome the odds to win the T20 World Cup?

The T20 World Cup is around the corner. The teams are ready, the field is set, and everyone is waiting for the biggest tournament in the fastest format of cricket to begin. We, the spectators, as always, expect every match to be a thriller, full of fours, and raining sixes. Rain, Aha! Island country, month of September, and Monsoon season on its peak. Rain could play spoilsport here, but let’s pray that the rain gods show some mercy on us. Meanwhile, the Men in Blue have also stepped into the Lankan Land, in anticipation of getting back the crown they achieved, after beating Pakistan in the inaugural T20 World Cup in South Africa. But what are the chances of the Indian team in the tournament? Let’s check out some pros and cons.

Pros

Strong Batting Line-up

India’s biggest strength. This team has one of the strongest batting line-ups in the world. And in the sub-continent conditions, this line-up can do wonders!

Virender Sehwag – Can single-handedly change the result of the match, with his awe-inspiring shots. Deadly against spinners, and goes for broke from the very first ball.

Gautam Gambhir – Has the potential to be more aggressive than players like Chris Gayle and AB De Villiers, but when it comes to rescue India in Gambhir (serious) situations, he can play the sheet-anchor role to perfection.

Virat Kohli – At present, the most complete player in the limited overs format. Aggressive both with bat and behavior. He is of course the player to watch out for in the tournament.

Suresh Raina – Leg side specialist. Only Indian to have scored a century in T20. Most important player in the lower-middle order. Many experts believe that he’s the best T20 player in India.

MS Dhoni – Also known as ‘The Finisher’, led the team to victory many times. Though after the match against New Zealand, many people blamed him for the loss, saying he was too slow. But in fact, it was not the player, but the pitch which became slow, and the Kiwi bowlers, especially James Franklin, took full advantage of it. Nevertheless, the Indian campaign highly depends on MSD’s contributions, both as captain and player.

Yuvraj Singh – Who can forget this man! After a long wait of 10 months, he returned to the forefront after beating a life-threatening disease, and emerged like a true fighter. One of the most important batsmen in the middle order, as Dhoni said, his presence gives the right kind of balance the team needs. He’s a big asset to the team, both with bat, as well as ball.

Subcontinent Conditions

The Indians have always been dangerous in the sub-continent. The ultimate challenge for the teams coming in the sub-continent is to conquer the turning conditions, and India has a talented spinner in Ravichandran Ashwin, who knocked over the Kiwi batsmen in the two-test match series last month. India mostly rely on him when it comes to spin bowling. India recently toured the host island for a five-match ODI series, and their victory against the home team have raised the hopes and expectations of returning home with another World Cup. The team is much stronger than others when it comes to playing on slow tracks, and they have tremendous experience of playing in Sri Lanka, a huge advantage for the Men in Blue.

Cons

Death Overs

Performing during the death overs has always been a major problem for Indian bowling. And, in the T20 format, where the batsmen try to clear the boundary on every ball, the problem gets even bigger. The Indian bowlers conceded more than 100 runs in the last ten overs on two occasions in the tri-series against the Aussies and the Lankans. Often, these poor performances in the death overs cost the game for India. Sometimes, Dhoni even had to use players like Virat Kohli and Virender Sehwag to bowl the last overs of the match. This is one area where the Indian bowlers have a lot of work to do, because in a format like T20, one big over can affect the result of the match.

Team Selection

The mode of selection of some of the players in the squad is still not clear. I don’t understand why BCCI conducts tournaments like IPL, when they actually can’t realize the need for young fresh talent in the team. The selection of players like Rohit Sharma, Piyush Chawla, and Harbhajan Singh disturbs this writer. Rohit was an absolute disaster in the ODI series against Sri Lanka, scoring only 13 runs in 5 matches. And yet he was selected. Young guns like Ambati Rayudu and Naman Ojha are consistently overlooked to give more opportunities to the wasteful Rohit Sharma.

What about Piyush Chawla? I am still surprised on how he got selected for the 2011 World Cup! He had hardly performed in any of the matches he played in the CWC, and the IPL, yet, he made it into the T20 Squad. There are many more talented players than him, such as Iqbal Abdullah and Pragyan Ojha, who deserve a place in the team. Harbhajan Singh hasn’t played for the country in almost a year, but as the big tournament approaches, he is selected. Neither did he perform in the IPL, nor was his record for Essex worthy of getting a place in the national team. The reason is simple. BCCI relies more on seniority than performances in big tournaments.

Final Verdict

The Group Stage is easy, and barring any upset, (unlikely in the case of inexperienced teams like Afghanistan) India can easily clear it. Their knowledge about the sub-continent conditions and their strong batting order is a plus point which will help them in the Super Eights. But like I said, India can’t rely solely on their batting. For an all round team performance, they have to definitely work on their bowling, especially their pace attack. It will be interesting to see how the India team counters the pressure of performing in such a big tournament.