India’s T20 team of the decade

India have been the second most successful T20I team in the world in this decade. Out of all the teams which have played at least 50 T20I games in the period between 2010 and 2019, India’s winning percentage of 64.15 is only second to Afghanistan’s 67.94.

India might not have won any WT20 during this period despite being the firm favourites in 2014 and 2016, but the consistency that the Men in Blue have shown in the shortest format of the game has been extraordinary.

The reason behind India’s consistency in T20I cricket over the last 10 years is the core of the team which has been a regular part of the set-up. Because of a settled core, the youngsters coming in from time to time have found their feet easily and the team has evolved nicely.

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Here is India’s T20 team of the decade –

#1 Openers (Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma)

Shikhar and Rohit have played a key role in India's series wins in South Africa and England

Shikhar and Rohit just complement each other so well. While Rohit likes to take a bit of time upfront, Shikhar takes on the bowlers straightaway when he is hitting the ball well. It doesn’t quite reflect in Shikhar’s overall strike rate of 128.1, but that’s largely because he tends to go into his shell when he is not in form.

But, Shikhar is a natural stroke maker and whenever he hits his straps early, it puts Rohit in his comfort zone and gets India off to a flier as well.

Rohit is one of the most dangerous players around the world once he gets past his first 15 deliveries. If the opposition doesn’t get him out inside the powerplay, he mostly takes the spinners to all corners of the ground in the middle overs.

The Indian white ball vice-captain has struck the ball at a rate of 140.12 runs per 100 balls in the 90 T20Is he has played between 2010 and 2019.

#2 Middle-order [Virat Kohli (C), KL Rahul, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni (WK)]

Virat Kohli is the glue to India's batting, while Raina and Dhoni are the finishers

Virat Kohli's job is to hold the innings together and to allow the other stroke players to bat around him, but he is so good that while he is anchoring the innings, he still manages to maintain a strike rate of close to 140.

KL Rahul might have been inconsistent in the other formats of the game, but his T20I numbers have been just outstanding. He has scored 1138 runs in the 34 games he has played so far at an average of 43.76 and a strike rate of 146.46. Although he prefers to play in the top-order, he has got the tools to bat at no. 4 as well.

Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni have easily been India’s best finishers over the decade. They might have faded away a little bit now, but for most parts of the decade, they did the toughest job for India, batting lower down the order against the old ball and finding the boundaries regularly.

Dhoni and Raina have averaged 45 and 30 in the T20Is from 2010 onwards, while their strike rates have been 133.29 and 136.97 respectively. Dhoni would be an automatic choice as the wicketkeeper of the team as well.

#3 All-rounder (Hardik Pandya)

Hardik Pandya has emerged as an asset for India with both bat and ball

Although Pandya didn’t play any game for India in the first half of the decade, he has emerged as an asset with both bat and ball since making his debut in 2016. He has helped India find that balance of having a batsman at no. 7 who can tonk the ball and can bowl his full quota of 4 overs.

Pandya’s numbers speak for themselves. While he has scored 310 runs in the 25 innings he has played at a strike rate of 147.61, he has grabbed 38 wickets at a bowling average of 25.68. He is in top 5 in the list of the leading wicket-takers for India in T20I cricket in the last 10 years despite making his T20I debut only 3 years back.

Pandya is one of those players who can change a T20I game upside down within a space of few deliveries. He has the ability to clear any ground in the world and against any type of bowling.

#4 Bowlers (Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah)

The wrist spinners have been pivotal to India's success in T20I cricket

India’s winning percentage in T20I cricket went up significantly when they started playing two wrist spinners in Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal. Both Kuldeep and Chahal bowl attacking lengths in the middle overs and get regular wickets to push the opposition on the backfoot.

Kuldeep averages a wicket every 11 balls in T20I cricket, while the strike rate for Chahal is 16. When they bowl together in the middle overs, there is no respite for the batsmen at all.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah have easily been one of India’s greatest seam bowling pairs in white-ball cricket. While Bhuvneshwar swings the ball upfront, Bumrah hits the deck hard.

Both of them possess the capability to not only break the game open for India with early wickets but to seal the game too with pinpoint yorkers in the death. Apart from being among India’s premier wicket-takers, they don’t go for a lot of runs either. While Bumrah’s economy rate in T20I cricket is 6.71, Bhuvneshwar goes at a rate of just 7.04 runs per over.