When was the last time that the Indian squad, team selection, or the combination wasn’t of much interest to the pundits & fans? It was a topic of debate at the World Cup, during the Australia T20I series, then the South Africa series, and a few months before the T20I World Cup 2024, it is being talked about, again. This has always been, and will always be, a part of the build-up.
But amidst all this, one can’t deny the fact — with or without the presence of any given player, Team India has just churned out performances at every competition they’ve entered. Yes, an ICC trophy in the last 11 years remains elusive, but the reason for that isn’t the team or the players.
If Virat Kohli isn’t around for any given reason, then Rohit Sharma steps up, and if Hardik Pandya is injured, someone like a Shardul Thakur, or even Shivam Dube ups their game. The 2021 Test series Down Under comes to mind, where the likes of Rishabh Pant, Washington Sundar, T Natarajan, and Navdeep Saini took India to a series win despite the team losing Ishant Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, Hanuma Vihari, Umesh Yadav, and Mohammed Shami to injuries.
Shortest Test Match
Now, look at the Cape Town Test against the Proteas earlier this month, where Team India made short work of the opposition and wrapped up the match in just one-and-a-half-days, or 107 overs. There were a lot of talks including an extra batsman in the team, even maybe a Sarfaraz Khan, after the Centurion drubbing in the first Test, but India just once again showed, that it’s not the individual players, but the team, as a unit that wins games, and in larger context, wins a series.
Look at the World Cup 2023. India made it to the final mins Pandya, and to some extent, his absence wasn’t even felt. It was just the case of India having one bad game. Following that heartbreaking loss, there was the Aussie T20I series, where Suryakumar Yadav led India to a 4-1 series victory.
Longest T20I
The India vs Afghanistan series, which concluded on Wednesday was our last T20I match before the T20 World Cup, but there’s no real reason to lose sleep over it. While Rohit & Virat made a comeback, India was sans their regular bowling line up, and yet won the series comfortably. Yes, in the third match, the teams played two super overs to decide the winners in Bengaluru, but then there wasn’t much of a problem for the team anyway. In fact, it was Ravi Bishnoi, who despite being the World No. 1 bowler in T20Is, is not a regular in the side, and yet took the team to the win in the second super over.
It’s Just, India Acing Cricket in Every Format
Given the abundant resources the team has, the best 15 will make it after cut-throat competition for a few spots, at the upcoming IPL. And even if a team is selected, that doesn’t have the players, the experts had predicted, it will still be a contender to lift the trophy, no matter what.
All this, because India has built a robust system for nurturing players, over the last two or three decades. And as a result, now, there are at least three players vying for a spot in the team, at every position. So, whatever the team be, India is bound to do well.
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