New Brand of Cricket vs. The Old Ideology - India needs to think now!

What is the first lesson that the Indian team should learn from their series win against Ireland? We now have T20 specialists in our country who can take the game forward and the big boys should concentrate more on ODI and Test cricket. If you check past records, players like Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul and to an extent Virat Kohli have been poor in this format of the game when it comes to International cricket. KL’s slow innings has always been pointed out by some cricket fans and the trio can be dismissed easily if the opponent introduces a left-arm seamer. We have seen that against New Zealand in the semi-finals of the 2019 World Championship and again in the 2021 World Championship against Pakistan. The team should think about a new approach and introduce T20 specialists to help the team grow.

If one remembers, all the big boys were rested when India lifted their inaugural T20 Championship in 2007. The players who were known to score quick runs like Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni, Robin Uthappa were part of the squad that helped team India win the trophy. Why can’t the team apply the same formula today? It is very difficult to drop the pioneers of modern cricket in this format but the results aren’t in their favour. They will obviously feature in the upcoming T20 World Championship but post that, the management should really think!

Ireland is not a strong competitor but the brand of cricket that team India played against them is what makes the second string of players so dangerous. Deepak Hooda was nowhere in the scene to be selected for the T20 squad for the World Championship later this year. However, how can the board ignore him after such a stellar performance?

If you even leave India and their players for some time, just look at England. At a time when the team was suffering from failures, their change in tactics helped the team reach the finals of the T20 World Championship in 2016 and finally win their maiden 50-over World Championship in 2019. The thing that changed their white ball cricket is they decided to introduce specialists of the game and not back the well-known players only. Eoin Morgan, an attacking minded player was appointed as the captain of the team and it was players like Jos Buttler, Jonny Bairstow and Moeen Ali who made England cricket great again under the leadership of Morgan.

India should apply the same strategy. Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul are indeed one of the best trios that any team would love to have but again, the success rate isn’t there to show. Introduction of new impactful players can create a difference. Of course they are more likely to fail against stronger opponents but a new pattern will start in Indian cricket which will help the team in future. The example is there to take, team India just need to risk it to see it!