Important to find a style
Over the years, England have found a brand of cricket that they want to play — they bat deep and are confident of chasing everything down. Australia pack their side with all-rounders. Pakistan have a bowling attack that is the envy of the world. New Zealand have many contributors, and no one stands out as they go for it.
What is India’s brand? How do they want to play the T20 game?
When Rohit took over as captain, he had a clean slate, and could have moved away from the established order by looking at players whose style of play would have been a more natural fit in T20 cricket. But India chose continuity instead of adventure. This is where the side could have taken a page out of MS Dhoni’s book.
Many senior players gave the 2007 T20 World Cup a miss after Rahul Dravid (now the coach of the team), Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly decided to give an opportunity to young cricketers after an early exit from the 2007 ODI World Cup. This decision gave the team that landed in South Africa an entirely different vibe, flavour and mindset. It helped that there were no expectations — but the run to the title was so emphatic that it laid the foundation for the
ODI World Cup triumph that followed in 2011.
Dhoni had a very clear idea about who he wanted in the team, and what he wanted them to do. If someone, no matter how senior, did not fit the requirements, he let them go. After last year’s defeat and change of guard, a 2007-like reset under Rohit could have helped the current team.
As captain of the Mumbai Indians, Rohit knows that role players are key in the shortest format. But India continued to present a confused face — one that showed in Rohit’s batting too, and legitimate questions will now be asked about his own place in the XI.
“The Indian thinktank needs to look at itself in the mirror and ask itself ‘what is their best T20 team?’,” said former India selector Jatin Paranjpe. “The sameness of the ODI and T20 squads is a problem when the demands of the two formats are so different. Prithvi Shaw, Shubman Gill and Sanju Samson should be in the mix and the BCCI needs to get their strategic planning sorted. You can’t have the best T20 league in the world and a national team that isn’t cutting it. We need to shed ourselves from saying just nice things.”
India decided to go with the quality-will-tell tactics that have served them well in ODIs. They tried to be sane in a format that demands more than a hint of mayhem. It all came undone in a way that many expected, but no one wanted.