The inaugural T20 World Cup winners are once again gearing up for the T20 World Cup 2024. There is no question that the Indian team have faced struggles at ICC events. As since 2013, India has struggled to get their hands on the silverware. When it comes to the T20 World Cup, India have clinched the T20 World Cup trophy just once to date.
However, looking at the current 15-member squad, it seems like things can turn around, as it resembles the 2007 T20 India squad. Although it’s not fair to compare both squads. As every player has their own capabilities, but there is a few resemblance in the squad. Take a look at the three similarities which India have in their current T20 World Cup squad from the 2007 team.
2007 and 2024 India’s T20 World Cup Squad
| 2007 Squad | Age | 2024 Squad | Age |
|---|---|---|---|
| MS Dhoni (c) | 26y | Rohit Sharma (c) | 37y |
| Gautam Gambhir | 25y | Yashasvi Jaiswal | 22y |
| Virender Sehwag | 28y | Virat Kohli | 35y |
| Robin Uthappa | 21y | Sanju Samson | 29y |
| Yuvraj Singh (vc) | 25y | Rishabh Pant | 26y |
| Dinesh Karthik | 22y | Suryakumar Yadav | 33y |
| Rohit Sharma | 20y | Hardik Pandya | 30y |
| Piyush Chawla | 18y | Shivam Dube | 30y |
| Joginder Sharma | 23y | Ravindra Jadeja | 35y |
| Yusuf Pathan | 23y | Axar Patel | 30y |
| Irfan Pathan | 24y | Arshdeep Singh | 25y |
| Ajit Agarkar | 22y | Jasprit Bumrah | 30y |
| Harbhajan Singh | 29y | Yuzvendra Chahal | 33y |
| RP Singh | 27y | Mohammed Siraj | 30y |
| S.Sreesanth | 24y | Kuldeep Yadav | 29y |
What similarities can we find in both squads?
Fast bowling all-rounder options
Since it is impossible to find exact likenesses between both squads, as every player has their own capabilities, we can still identify a few similarities. In 2007, India had a few fast-bowling all-rounders, such as Irfan Pathan and Ajit Agarkar, who performed wonders in the inaugural T20 World Cup. This year, we also have fast-bowling all-rounders like Shivam Dube and Hardik Pandya.
Strong spin attack like in 2007
Also, in that edition, India went with the full-spin options. Even this time, the Indian team has a similar approach, as the 2024 team has players like Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, and Kuldeep Yadav, whose roles are going to be important in the USA and West Indies. Apart from this combination.
Numerous left-handed batting options
Speaking about batting in the last few editions, India was seen lacking left-handed batters. However, now things seem to be sorted out as the Men in Blue have many lefties on the team. Similar to the 2007 team, where they had left-handers in the top order like Gautam Gambhir. And the middle order was packed with players like Yuvraj Singh and Irfan Pathan.
This time for the upcoming World Cup, we also have players like Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant, Shivam Dube, and then Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja. These players can provide India with a variety of batting combinations with this trait.
