It has been 14 years since India last lifted the T20 World Cup when India’s iridescent star MS Dhoni with his young brigade became the first T20 World Champions. Under the leadership of Virat Kohli and the mentorship of MS Dhoni, Team India would be eyeing their second T20 World Cup title when they begin their World Cup campaign from October 24 against arch-rivals Pakistan.
The 2007 World Cup win under MS Dhoni started a new revolution in the Indian cricket and with MS back in the mix; India will look to re-create the same magic in 2021.
The Indian players having played the Indian Premier League in the UAE for a month are accustomed to the playing conditions, and will look to get their rhythm back and test the water before the mother of all the matches on October 24 against Pakistan with the two practice games against England and Australia on October 18 and October 20 respectively.
India will be going into the tournament with the mix of experience and young guns. Vice-captain Rohit Sharma is the only link from the 2007 World Cup and India will have six World Cup debutantes this edition. KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Rahul Chahar, Varun Chakravarthy and Shardul Thakur will be eager to rub-shoulders with biggies of the game and have a World Cup under their name.
For India figuring out their middle-order would be the key as the opening order of Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul and Virat Kohli will give nightmares to the opponents. The versatile Indian spin attack of R.Ashwin, Varun Chakarvarthy, Rahul Chahar, and Ravindra Jadeja will be crucial for India’s performances along with the genuine pace-attack of Mohammad Shami, Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
Kohli will have to work out meticulously on the middle-order with talented batters like Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant, who can stitch the work for India. However, these batters have no experience of playing together in the national jersey. And add to that, none of these players have too many games under their belt heading into the T20 World Cup.
Cricket pundits have chosen India as one the favorites for the tournament apart from England and West Indies and on paper the team looks solid to prove them right.
India will play Pakistan on October 24, New Zealand on October 31 and Afghanistan November 3.
