Leave it to a senior statesman to remind us that Indian cricket can not only be a thing of beauty but also a thrill-a-minute heartbreak. Indian fans needed some relief from the team’s oft-criticised inability to go harder and faster in the early exchanges during the PowerPlay, and that’s exactly what captain Rohit Sharma offered as the curtains fell on 2023.
In October, at the ODI World Cup in India, there was the 36-year-old Rohit, bullying the opposition new-ball attacks with aggressive strokeplay and outsize swagger. Meanwhile, his teammate and bona fide great, Virat Kohli, hit a record 50th ODI century, surpassing his idol Sachin Tendulkar, who watched on in the crowd during India’s World Cup semifinal win against New Zealand.
As the Men in Blue barged into the final, the fans wondered, with zealous optimism at times, if this was the year India ended the decade-long wait for an ICC trophy. In Rohit and Kohli, there were two men, aided by a skilled and buoyant XI, determined to bring to life that dream.
But we are limited creatures, despite our pretensions to the contrary. Even as an entire nation resisted the temptation to acknowledge the existence of a possibility that obediently contradicted their experiences of it, Pat Cummins and Australia gave a rude awakening, “silencing a big crowd,” en route to a record sixth World Cup title by beating India in the final.
So, as the calendar flips to 2024, India’s pursuit of elusive ICC silverware is back to square one. Rohit’s men will have yet another crack in four months at the 2024 T20 World Cup, which will be jointly hosted by the USA and West Indies, with the final to be staged in Barbados on June 29.
The West Indies and USA earned automatic entry by being hosts, with the latter to play in the tournament for the first time. England, Pakistan, New Zealand, India, Australia, South Africa, the Netherlands, and Sri Lanka secured their places by finishing in the top eight of the T20 World Cup in 2022.
Afghanistan and Bangladesh, as the next best T20I teams in rankings, joined the roster, along with sides determined by regional qualifiers. Ireland and Scotland secured spots from the European section, while Papua New Guinea advanced from the East Asia-Pacific Qualifier. Canada, set for their tournament debut, earned a spot through the Americas Qualifier. Nepal and Oman emerged as Asian qualifiers, and Namibia and Uganda completed the lineup by succeeding in the African Qualifier.
It seems likely that both Rohit and Kohli will be part of the 2024 World Cup after the duo was named in the squad for the Afghanistan T20I series at home, ending their more than year-long absence from the shortest format.
This was also India’s last T20I series before the T20 World Cup in June, and ergo, a final chance to let the likes of Rinku Singh and Tilak Varma make their cases. However, the inclusion of Rohit and Virat could likely result in there being no room for the aforementioned youngsters.
The fact that India has failed to discover any fortune in T20 World Cups could be blamed both on a lack of adaptability to a super-attacking strategy in T20 cricket and an apparent obduracy of the think tank when it comes to certain selection calls, but the one-step-forward, two-steps-back dance in the shortest format has been a feature of Indian cricket for a while. That being said, Rohit and Kohli are perhaps batting as well as they have ever batted in ODI cricket, and hopefully, they will carry that form to the Caribbean islands should they make the cut eventually.
Change is the name of the game: The emergence of the Women’s Premier League, the revival of the ‘A’ system, and a focus on the Under-19s have given the women’s T20 game a much-needed fillip. | Photo Credit: PTI
Meanwhile, India Women will also bid for their maiden T20 World Cup trophy when the 2024 edition takes place in Bangladesh in September and October. India has many new players and a new coach in Amol Muzumdar, and while the England and Australia series at home were ideal preparations, the results were anything but. India lost the T20 series to England 1-2 at home, its sixth successive series defeat against the Three Lions in the format. Harmanpreet’s side was then humbled by Alyssa Healy’s Australia by a similar margin in a three-match T20I series.
That said, the emergence of the Women’s Premier League, the revival of the ‘A’ system, and a focus on the Under-19s have given the women’s T20 game a much-needed fillip. The fact that uncapped Indians, Kashvee Gautam and Vrinda Dinesh, attracted bids of Rs 2 crore (Gujarat Giants) and Rs 1.3 crore (UP Warriorz), respectively, at the WPL auction in Mumbai is a testament to the burgeoning talent pool in Indian women’s cricket and an evolving but robust talent identification programme. All this augurs well for India in the T20 World Cup year, the last edition before cricket makes its Olympic debut at Los Angeles 2028.
Returning to the men’s side, India would hope to go all the way in the World Test Championship this time, having lost two back-to-back finals. On both occasions, it was India’s batting that succumbed to probing spells of fast bowling. The Test team is in flux, but a new selection panel gives Rohit a chance for a makeover. He needs a more assertive and proactive approach, both on and off the field. Rohit needs to make tough calls if need be.
A change of guard is imminent. Ajinkya Rahane, who was vice captain on the West Indies tour in 2023, was dropped for the South Africa and England (first two) Tests, while Cheteshwar Pujara, India’s No. 3 for a long time, has not been picked in the squad since scoring only 14 and 27 in the World Test Championship final against Australia in June last year. If logic had the final say, India perhaps wouldn’t turn back to the duo, signalling the end of an era in more ways than one.
But again, when has sport been completely rational? So, to say the fans have had a final glimpse of their batting heroes would still be premature. Theirs will be big shoes to fill, and it is not like the younger players have knocked the door down for batting numbers 3 and 5. But they do deserve a longer rope, keeping in mind the five Tests against England at home, followed by the five away Tests in Australia towards the end of 2024.
While captain Rohit and coach Rahul Dravid’s tone pretty much conveys that the next few months may not be about set patterns but about trying out a few new players, it is becoming increasingly clear that 2024 will be the year a line is drawn in the sand. The time to put the wheels of change into motion is now.
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