India's Journey in the ICC T20 WC 2024

India became the first team to win a T20 world cup unbeaten since its inception in 2007. The winners of the inaugural tournament had to wait for 17 agonizing years to emerge victorious again. And they really did it emphatically, comprehensively and diligently.

Rahul Dravid and Rohit Sharma mentioned several times that this is the result of processes which commenced a few years back. After the dismal loss against the Englishmen in the 2022 T20 World Cup semifinals, questions were raised on the brand of cricket India played- Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were asked by experts to make way for youngsters. The tempo had to be raised as there were many waiting in the wings with consistent performances in the IPL which is definitely a benchmark for selecting T20 squads in India considering the pressure, quality of teams involved and the stage as such.

But the coach and captain decided to change their batting approach. Rohit unleashed himself right from the word go and succeeded more often than not. It rubbed off on others also and even the perfectionist Virat Kohli was seen slogging wildly in a few games this tournament.

The squad selection as it always happens in India, drew flak. While Rinku Singh was unfortunate and had done nothing wrong to borrow the words of the Chairman of Selectors Ajit Agarkar, Shivam Dube’s inclusion was controversial. But the masterstroke was picking Axar Patel - a replica of Ravi Jadeja. Rohit wanted 4 spinners and with Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal, the quartet was complete.

India had 3 genuine all rounders after a very long time in Hardik Pandya, Axar and Jadeja. Historically all rounders had served India well in all of their global tournament victories - from Kapil Dev, Mohinder Amarnath, Roger Binny to Yuvraj Singh, Irfan Pathan and Suresh Raina or Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar for that matter.

Pakistan succumbed to Jasprit Bumrah and company. Hardik, Siraj and Arshdeep bowled with control and defended 119. India intelligently promoted Axar up the order while batting and the lower order failed miserably, While Pakistan looked in control till the 12 th over when they batted, Jasprit Bumrah turned the game in India’s favor and the Indian team looked like it could win from any situation. The self belief of the team improved leaps and bounds after this game.

While victory against minnows was almost guaranteed, India had marched forward with USA having them in a spot of bother in the group game.

Sterner tests awaited the Indians in the super 8 fixtures and Rohit batted Australia out of the match with a whopping strike rate of 224. Australia was always catching up chasing 205 and once India’s nemesis Travis Head fell to a well disguised slower ball from Bumrah, the doors were closed on Australia.

In a rematch of the 2022 Semi Finals, Rohit began in the same tempo and SuryaKumar chipped in with a very important innings of 47. Hardik Pandya underlined his importance as a finisher as India mustered up 171 and then Axar Patel bowling in the powerplay, weaved magic and England never looked like winning.

With nightmares of previous losses in ICC tournaments haunting both teams, India batted first against South Africa in the final and scored 176 which looked slightly above par considering the stage set as such. But South Africa batted till the 15 over unperturbed. Kohli was the hero while batting for India and Bumrah swung the match around while bowling. Kuldeep sat out the entire USA leg of the tournament and replaced Siraj once they came to the Caribbean - the think tank appeared to have plans for all teams and players with everyone’s duties underlined clearly. Execution was perfect with some fine strokeplay from Rohit Sharma throughout, Hardik Pandya showcased his ability and significance while Bumrah with his precision, skill and temperament conceded less boundaries than the wickets he scalped in the tournament. Arshdeep has emerged as a reliable T20 fast bowler which could help India field different format based teams while Kuldeep albeit being off-color in the final continued his dominance.

With Rishabh Pant and Shivam Dube not living up to expectations, it should pave the way for Sanju Samson and Rinku Singh. While there are big gaps to fill as Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ravi Jadeja retired, the selectors and the new captain and the coach would have to strike the proper balance with the abundance of talent pool available.