Mirpur, Mar 15:
In their bid to arrest the free fall in the past few months, a desperate India under Mahendra Singh Dhoni would seek redemption when they start their campaign in the ICC World T20 beginning tomorrow, while Australia and Pakistan have credentials to be labelled as strong contenders.
On current form, India, the champions of the inaugural edition of 2007 are certainly not the favourites to win the tournament.
Pakistan and a well-balanced Australian side would be seriously vying for the top honours in what promises to be a captivating three-week tournament.
Defending champions West Indies would like to prove that their triumph in 2012 was no flash in pan while Sri Lanka will like to be third time lucky having lost two finals in 2009 and 2012 respectively.
New Zealand with their new-found sensation Corey Anderson will like to end their major Trophy jinx, something that even South Africa under AB de Villiers would also be aiming for.
India last played a T20 International more than five months back and won that particular match against Australia by six wickets with Yuvraj Singh playing a blinder.
Much water has flown through the Ganges since that particular match on a Rajkot shirtfront with Indian team’s performance going from bad to worse.
T20 is a different format but being beaten comprehensively in both Tests and ODI series in New Zealand is demoralising. Worse, they could not even qualify for the Asia Cup final losing to both Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Two and half months into 2014, India have only two international victories against minnows Bangladesh and Afghanistan, a record that would not make the team proud.
In this backdrop, India will start their World T20 campaign, a tournament where they have failed to reach the semi-finals in the last three editions played in England, West Indies and Sri Lanka.
It won’t be an easy task as India will face an
ever-threatening Pakistan, a formidable Australia and defending champions West Indies in their group along with a qualifier who will join after the preliminary group league matches.
A fact that should worry the Indian team is lack of preparation going into the tournament as they would have to contend with a couple of warm-up games against Sri Lanka and England on March 17 and 19 respectively.
On the otherhand, Australia and South Africa played a three-match T20 series (first match abandoned) while England and West Indies also played a two-match series.
While the format is entirely different where the bowlers won’t have to deal with ‘four fielders outside the circle’ rule, it’s hard to ignore India’s inconsistency in the format despite the popularity of IPL and some of the stars being its biggest draws.
That the tournament is being played in the sub-continent will not be an advantage anymore as India’s performance in the last edition was a testimony. Australia beat them comfortably in a rain-affected game in Colombo and India were out of the tourney.
While they will play all their matches at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium in Mirpur, India have lost more matches at the venue in recent times with the Asia Cup being a prime example.
Skipper Dhoni having recovered from his side strain will be back in the saddle along with veteran Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina who are making a comeback into the team.
The bowling remains a perennial worry with Mohammed Shami’s performance being the only silver lining. Varun Aaron is inconsistent and Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s lack of pace has been thoroughly exposed.
Ravichandran Ashwin did marginally better during Asia Cup but has been far from best while Ravindra Jadeja despite some good performances is not a runaway match-winner. So it will again depend on how well skipper Dhoni and Virat Kohli perform during the tournament. (PTI)
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