Going into the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup 2022, India are considered one of the front runners to lift the illustrious title. After winning the inaugural edition of this tournament in 2007 in South Africa, they have only made it to the final of the tournament only on one other occasion, which was in 2014 against Sri Lanka.
Going into each edition experts suggest that they always have a considerable chance of winning the cup, so what’s different this time going to Australia? So let’s look at three reasons why India can win this time.
Inside #TeamIndia's nets session with Batting Coach – Vikram Rathour, Bowling Coach – Paras Mhambrey & Fielding Coach – T Dilip. pic.twitter.com/L8E3yosSbT
— BCCI (@BCCI) October 10, 2022
#1 Experience of the squad
The squad is packed with a number of experienced players who have played ICC tournaments as well as are well accustomed to the Australian tracks such as Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, and KL Rahul to name a few.
The experience of such players will come in handy in multi-nation tournaments. Also having the two most successful batsmen in this format, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kolhi just further their cause.
If these experienced customers perform in unison, India have a very high chance of winning their second T20 World Cup campaign.
#2 A new outlook on the format
Chahal TV 📺 from Down Under 👏 👏@yuzi_chahal chats up with @HarshalPatel23, @HoodaOnFire & @arshdeepsinghh as the #TeamIndia quartet shares its excitement ahead of its maiden #T20WorldCup. 👍 👍 – By @RajalArora
Full interview 🎥 🔽https://t.co/65UeLbPunU pic.twitter.com/6EBZsONVjk
— BCCI (@BCCI) October 8, 2022
Since the game against New Zealand and Pakistan in the previous T20 World Cup, India have adopted an aggressive approach, especially in the first six overs.
Skipper Rohit Sharma has led by example and everyone has followed him. Also now they have the players to back such a template of playing like Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, KL Rahul as well as Dinesh Karthik.
When England changed their white-ball cricket approach after their exit from group stages in the 2015 ODI World Cup, it worked in their favour. Ultimately, they lifted the World Cup in 2019 at home.
With this new template, there might be days where things may not pan as one would expect but on the other side, India have been consistently scoring around the 200-run mark since last year. We saw it in the South Africa series when India scored 237-3 and how all their batsmen contributed to playing this new brand of cricket.
#3 Capitalising on the middle overs
One of the evolutions of this format is to capitalise on the overs from 7-15. After adapting this new approach to the format, India have been consistently scoring runs as well as taking wickets in this phase.
Among batters, we can see that Suryakumar along with Kohli keep the scoreboard ticking and keep the dot balls to a minimum. They have also put pressure on the other team by running between the wickets and finding the necessary boundaries making it difficult for the opposition.
In the bowling department, they have two middle-over specialists in Axar Patel and Yuzvendra Chahal, who can spin their web around the batsman. Both the bowlers can contain runs, therefore, creating pressure and wicket-taking opportunities.
Unlike the previous year, there is no over-dependence on any one or two particular players in the playing 11. Every player in the squad has played enough games this year and has been a proven match-winner for the team on any given day.
Written by Kunsh Khanna
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