ICC World Twenty20: Time for the formidable Indian batting line-up to rise up to the occasion

Team India head into the 4th edition of the ICC World T20 at the back of just 2 wins across all formats of the game in the last 3 and a half months. And albeit Team India’s bowling hasn’t helped matters, it’s the batting line-up that has largely been at fault for Team India’s recent string of failures.

Kohli will once again be expected to lead the Indian batting charge

The Indian batting hasn’t crumbled/capitulated, but the pattern of not being able to close out games from seemingly winning positions has been worrying. Having said that, the showpiece event taking place in Bangladesh presents the formidable Indian batting line-up with a golden opportunity to turn things around and get amongst the runs.

The philosophy of most Indian batsmen to fight fire with fire even in the most precarious of situations has been a weave bit baffling. The Indian batting line-up of today is packed with lethal stroke-makers, and players, who aren’t feared of going aerial from the first ball they face, but should they be a bit more calculative in their approach? During the tours of South Africa and New Zealand, there were scenarios when Team India looked set to bat the opposition out of the game, but time and again it was down to careless and unnecessary strokes that lead to Team India’s undoing.

It could be a bit harsh to single out a player like Ravindra Jadeja, who has improved his overall game in the last 6 months, and has become the player who could be banked upon when needed. But there were a couple of instances in South Africa and New Zealand when Jadeja’s shot-selection let him and the team down. So, part of the reason for Team India’s batting failure has been down to the fact that there has been some rash and unnecessary shot-making that has seen them let many an opportunity in the last 3 months go by.

But on the flip side of the coin, if the Indian batsmen do continue playing their strokes and continue fighting fire with fire, they could turn things around in this upcoming World T20. The T20 format of the game demands the batsmen to be aggressive and take risks at continuous intervals, and players like Raina, Dhawan, Yuvraj and Jadeja, who are known for their aggressive style of batting could relish the timing of this tournament from their careers perspective.

A good number of Indian batsmen in the squad for the World T20 aren’t in the greatest of nicks, and this tournament might have just arrived at the right time for these modern-day swashbucklers to garner runs the only way they know to. And if the formidable Indian batting line-up does rise up to the occasion and starts putting the runs on the board, who knows? Team India might well go the distance in the ICC world T20.