ICC World T20: Good days are coming back for Team India

Suresh Raina and Virat Kohli celebrate India’s win against Pakistan at Mirpur

After an array of disappointing results in the Test series against South Africa and New Zealand lately, the ongoing T20 World Cup has been a morale booster tournament as far as Team India is concerned. Not having done anything of note in the overseas Test arena, with the exception of the solitary Test series win in West Indies, in a span of 3 years after lifting the 50-over World Cup at home in 2011, there has been enormous criticism doubting the team’s ability when it comes to the game’s most testing format. Nevertheless, the home series results have brought some relief to dampened Indian fans.

Talk about the problems India have had during those dubious results: resilience of batting harmed more rather than our ‘famous’ bowling. On the contrary, almost on all those occasions – including the away series in England and Australia – it was more of an individual opponent who paved the way for the respective team performances that ensued. Rewind back and ponder thoughts over Ian Bell, Michael Clarke, Faf du Plessis, AB de Villiers and Brendon McCullum.

On the other hand, the ones who gritted for India amidst those not-so-familiar circumstances were not supported by any of the other team members. Remember the heroics of Rahul Dravid, Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara, Mohammed Shami and Ishant Sharma. Apparently, all those four away tours reflect the same verdict, but when you have a closer look, slight improvements can be observed.

And it was not just the case of Test matches alone. Be it T20s or the One-dayers, India found it hard to settle the dirt on most away tours. Though, amidst all these, came the Champions Trophy moments, much to the relief of desolated Indian fans. Of course, the conditions weren’t typical English conditions, yet it was a complete performance where every department complemented each other to perfection. That’s how we fans tasted the luxury of an away-made pie, true delicacy to a sour mouth!

It seems that the Indian team, through to the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh, is all set to do an encore of the Champions Trophy triumph last year in England. There have been lots of similarities to consider between these tour tournaments: while Ravindra Jadeja was instrumental in England, here, at Bangladesh, Amit Mishra has been producing the same magic.

At times, nowhere-to-be-seen, Mishra set the tone during the Zimbabwe tour last year. Under the captaincy of Virat Kohli, he made history by picking up 18 wickets: equaling the world record for most wickets in a bilateral ODI series previously made by Javagal Srinath in 2002-03 vs. New Zealand.

More than the quality that Mishra brings to the table, it has been his selection that has kept him in the headlines. Though it’s evident that he has delivered whenever he has been given the opportunity.

Suresh Raina’s second coming has added to the team’s strength, as well. Adding to that the strike-bowling pair of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Shami have not let the team down, too. Bhuvneshwar has rediscovered his ability to swing the new ball, which was feared to be long gone after an extended stretch of poor results following his sensational first few months. It has made it even more easy for the spinners to keep the run-rate under check and stifle the opposition, restricting oppositions to scores of under 140 in all their four matches, so far.

Regardless of three successful run-chases, Shikhar Dhawan’s form continues to remain an area of concern. With respect to death bowling, Dhoni’s experiments with Jadeja turned out to be a disaster against the West Indies, where Lendl Simmons carted him all around the park. So the Indian captain might go according to the demands of the situation and form of the bowlers on that particular day.

With Yuvraj coming good against Australia, it will ease the pressure on Kohli. So, all and all, India, with their mind-blowing performances, have made sure fans remain unfazed, specifically when a lot has been happening around the BCCI in relation to IPL spot-fixing allegations. Hopefully, Indian team would be able to keep the good run intact, and fans will once again be on roads to celebrate like we did on April 2, 2011.