If there are time travel enthusiasts amongst all of you, then last night was a perfect example of how a time machine would work.
Because in Dubai on the night of Sunday, 31 October, you got to see first hand what it was like to watch Twenty20 cricket when it actually started in 2003.
Unsure, diffident batsmen trying to find their feet was what we had seen when the format was first introduced in 2003 and India’s batsmen looked somewhat similar when we switched on our respective mobile phones/tablets or television sets in October 2021.
In a week when so much money has been splurged yet again in the purchase of two new Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises, this kind of approach underlines the lack of understanding about the format in the country.
It has been 14 years since the start of the IPL, but even now the T20 format is approached like it is an extension of One-Day Internationals (ODIs).
Hence you saw Indian batsmen trying to look to build an innings even in a T20 format. The whole approach was timid and outdated and it came from some of our premier batsmen.
This kind of batting underlined just what is wrong with India in the Twenty20 format and it is also primarily the reason the team is yet to win the T20 World Cup trophy, since the inaugural edition in 2007.
Over the years, under Mahendra Singh Dhoni, T20s were looked at as an extension of the ODI format. Then under Kohli the same approach continued with a muddled thinking around the batting line-up.
Odd Selection Choices
There has been total confusion in the way the Indian squad for the T20 World cup was chosen and then the playing XI’s selection has been a bigger lottery. Just who is applying his or their minds to choosing these XIs is a mystery. You have some of the biggest names ever in Indian cricket sitting in that dressing room. But more on that a little later.
For now, let us just look at the batting order. Finally, there was an admission of the fact that the team needed a move on in the initial overs. So, Ishan Kishan was brought in in place of the injured Suryakumar Yadav and was pushed to open with Lokesh Rahul, leaving Rohit to bat at three. The thought failed.
Rahul once again got a start, but looked tentative and all his form of the IPL did not yield any returns.
The two most experienced batsmen, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, were manning the crucial overs when they failed to get going the most. This is where the muddled thinking came through. Against the spinners, the duo tried to force the pace, but just could not get going.
Yet again, after India were spectacularly dismantled by this same New Zealand side and its spinners in the 2016 T20 World Cup, something similar happened on Sunday night. Mitchell Santner and Ish Sodhi bowled tremendously as they pushed India to make mistakes. This whole old world theory that if the pitches are slow, New Zealand and England will struggle is clearly not coming true, at least till now.
India have struggled against quality spin over the years. Sunday was another example of the same.
Rohit and Virat Need to Open
Sharma and Kohli are India’s two best batsmen and they have to open the batting together in this format. If they don’t get the maximum number of balls in a T20 match, we are wasting their abilities. Their game is to bat the maximum number of overs because unlike Kishan, Rishabh Pant, and Suryakumar Yadav, they are not natural big hitters. The heavy lifting has to be left to the younger lot. If the skipper and his vice-captain don't open, then it's tough to even see them find a place in the format for India.
They may continue to feature for their respective IPL franchises, but if they don’t open, at least Kohli does not find a place in the format. Even in the first game against Pakistan, he scored a perfect half-century, but it was perfect for the ODI format, not for the T20 format. There were far too many dot balls and there was more of the same on Sunday night, when he struggled to get going against New Zealand.
There is some quibble about the fact that the Indian think-tank tried to do something different with the batting order. But, this format is not meant for those who look at it as some kind of comfort zone. This format is for those who are willing to try out new things. And at least on that count you need to hand it to the Indian think-tank.
But now they need to head back to the drawing board. The only way to approach this T20 World Cup is to make Virat open and that should have been the thought since the start.
Junk the idea that he is a great number three batsman because well, he is, but only in the ODI format. He is an even greater batsman in the number four slot, in Test match cricket. In T20 cricket he has to open. He had made all the right noises in March 2021 against England but then, as it often happens, lack of understanding of the format and conservative approach forced Kohli to go back to the number three slot.
Batting Positions Need to Be Fluid
The conservative approach also results in the obsession with batting slots in a T20 format. You just cannot get obsessed with a slot in this format. You have to learn to be flexible.
Just look at England, Jos Buttler and Jason Roy open the batting in T20 cricket and Jonny Bairstow comes lower down the order. The same Bairstow opens the batting in ODI cricket, because that is his role and Buttler swaps positions with him.
India need to get rid of this old-world mentality when it comes to batting in T20 cricket.
Look at the way England have transformed the way they play T20 cricket, and even ODI cricket. There is clarity in their selection and they pick the best players for the format who are not necessarily the best players in English cricket at the time.
Joe Root has scored more runs than anyone else in the past 12 months, but in the Test match format. He does not find a place in the English T20 line-up, because there is simply no place for him. It is not an indictment of Root, just the demands of the format.
Similarly, Babar Azam is Pakistan’s best, but even he realises that if he does not open the batting, there is simply no place for him in this format. Questions are being asked of Steven Smith, too, in Australia around his T20 selection.
Kohli should realise he is not alone in the world batting royalty who is facing questions around the T20 reality. All of them are sailing in the same boat currently.
Dressing Room Confusion?
India’s bigger mess is happening in the dressing room with too many bigwigs planning the plot. Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s appointment as the mentor is just adding to an already messy dressing room. India’s head coach Ravi Shastri and his key lieutenant Bharat Arun have not openly spelt out that they are leaving. But their "informed sources" have let us know. Their impending exits, Dhoni’s presence and a captain on the edge has added to the confusion in the line-up.
India needs to reset, redraw their T20 cricket strategy. It is time for T20 cricket to be looked at as a separate format or even a separate sport. Pick the players suited for the format irrespective of their reputations in ODIs.
Remember, if India cannot do that despite earning so much from the biggest T20 league in the world, then the three-month jamboree is just not worth it. Right now, India in T20 cricket is like how someone had described the English football team. They have the best league but can't win a world title to show their worth.
At least the English football team does not show us how to travel in time, this Indian T20 team did show us that. So, India are at least one up on England’s football team!
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