Aakash Chopra Lists Positives From Series Win & Takeaways for WT20

“The 3-0 sweep has helped put the pieces of the Indian team’s jigsaw puzzle together,” writes the fmr India cricketer

Momentum is not something that you can see but something you feel. While it’s not tangible, its effect is tough to ignore. Once you have it on your side, things start falling in place on their own. And that’s the feeling I got with this Indian team in the three-match T20 series.

It’s not often that a tour of Australia has two completely unconnected halves, for if you start losing in Australia, it’s almost impossible to regroup and recover. Therefore, not many expected India to bounce back the way they did after getting hammered in the ODI series. The fact that Australia didn’t play their first XI and made too many changes in every single game helped India’s chances, but to undermine India’s performance would be unfair.

Looking ahead to the big World T20 at home in March, these three matches have put the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle together and now, India is fairly close to knowing what their ideal T20 XI should be.

‘Need 3 Batsman in Top Form’

T20 cricket needs only three batsmen in top form and the rest can bat around them. Once those three are scoring heavily and at a fair clip, the rest can bat with a lot of freedom.

That’s how Kings XI managed a podium finish in IPL-7. Miller, Maxwell and Bailey were the main protagonists who either set or chased big totals.

I’m getting a similar feeling from this Indian team in which Rohit, Kohli and Raina are likely to set the tone for the rest. All of them have form on their side, have the ability to hit the big shots and once set, have the tendency to finish off games. If they manage to keep their form intact for the next two months, India will have a fair chance of repeating the heroics of 2007.

‘Must Prepare Spin-Friendly Pitches’

Batting wins matches, bowling wins tournaments. While batting is India’s stronger suit, it’ll be naive to believe that they can win the World T20 on their own. Indian bowling will have to start contributing but, unfortunately, that’s likely to happen only if the pitches are of their liking.

Indian bowling needs either something from the pitch or the pressure from the scoreboard to take control of the match. Therefore India must insist on preparing slightly spinner-friendly pitches and that shouldn’t be tough to prepare at the end of a long home season.

Once the ball starts turning after pitching, the spin trio of Ashwin, Jadeja and Harbhajan will be too hot to handle. Also, that would allow the two part-timers in Yuvraj and Raina to come to their own. But it’s not just about the spin and that’s where these three T20s have contributed immensely. The comeback of Nehra and the rise of Bumrah have given Indians a much needed boost.

Road Ahead

The fixtures committee deserves a pat on their back for arranging lots of T20 matches leading up the World T20. Earlier the most common grouse used to be that Indian T20 players were match-winners for their respective IPL franchises but somehow, couldn’t click together as a team.

T20 demands a clear demarcation of roles and that can happen only if the same unit plays together enough, which didn’t happen often in the past. Now, with lots of T20 matches in February there’s an opportunity to not just allow people to cement their places and identify their roles but also, to get people back in form. Going ahead, it’s imperative for Dhoni to find ways to make Yuvraj bat higher up in the order and getting Pandya a decent hit. You really don’t want a situation where people are slightly undercooked going into a world tourney.

Here’s hoping that Dhoni has another World Cup left in him.

Aakash Chopra is a former India cricketer who Tweets from the handle @CricketAakash. He also recently released his book - The Insider.