New Era, New Approach Of The Indian Team

Analysing Indian Cricket's New Era In Rohit Sharma-Rahul Dravid Leadership.

Cricket Image for New Era, New Approach Of The Indian Team (Image Source: AFP)

Indian team, on Sunday, complete yet another series whitewash under the new leadership of Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid. The team defeated Sri Lanka 3-0 in the T20I series with an eye on the World Cup later in the year. 

Interestingly, India's consistent run of form collided with the new management's take over. Even though the team is in the experimentation stage and exploring players, the fact that India is winning the games is the testament of an already established bench strength. 

Right from the New Zealand series, Rohit has consistently talked about how talented the players are and it was up to the team management on how to use these players and fill the gaps. 

Filling the gaps is what India doing in these last three series since they don't have much time to change the personnel completely. According to how Rohit has talked in every interview, it seems that the core is already set for India. 

Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Jasprit Bumrah, and Rishabh Pant can be easily understood as the core. 

India in these last few series has found who will be the backups of which position and understood which player to send at what time. Ravindra Jadeja was back in the squad against Sri Lanka and Rohit talked about how the management is thinking of giving him chances to bat up the order and utilize his batting more. 

Ishan Kishan is looked upon as the backup opener plus wicketkeeper option and hence has been given good game time. 

Shreyas Iyer too has made a strong case for himself and will be the first backup in the middle order, especially the number three spot where he is competing against Virat Kohli. Suryakumar Yadav had a great series against West Indies and is looking all set to start in the playing XI at World Cup. 

New Era, New Approach 

In the last few years, India had a rigid batting order in the T20 format which ultimately was one of the factors why they couldn't do well in the World Cup 2021. However, looking at the new management, it looks as India is preparing players situation-wise. 

In one of the interviews, head coach Dravid said they don't want to be predictable with the batting order. The more flexible the batting order, the better a team can handle a situation. 

The idea that an entry point is more important than a batting position is very real for the T20 format. One of the interesting examples of the team management giving entry points to players is during the 2nd T20I against New Zealand in November, Venkatesh Iyer came into bat at number three while chasing 154. 

Iyer was sent in the 13th over when India lost the first wicket at the score of 117. With 37 runs needed, he was asked to finish the game and he did in the next five overs. 

These are the kind of small things that are continuously happening in these series which from the above don't matter but for the player's perspective matters. Role clarity is something a team needs to construct a squad and fit in players according to it. 

The pattern of no pattern in the batting order is a strategy that could prove to be fruitful. The opposition sets a plan according to batters coming and the fact that anyone can walk into the field might disrupt the plans. 

A lot happens during the T20 games tactically and if the captain has to continuously think about the next move, it is an advantage for the opposing team. 

The bowling department is something which is subject to change according to the conditions. The management has to look for bowlers who bowl in at least two phases of the T20 game. 

Talking about Ravi Bishnoi, Rohit once said, "we see something different in him that's why we drafted him in the squad. He can bowl anywhere from the powerplay to the back end of the innings as well, gives us options to rotate other bowlers." 

India in the last few games has begun to identify bowlers bowling in different phases. In the 3rd T20I vs Sri Lanka, Ravindra Jadeja wasn't given any over and Ravi Bishnoi bowled in the death overs. 

"The plan was to give Bishnoi and Kuldeep some match practice today, that's the reason I didn't bowl," Jadeja revealed later in the game. 

By the looks of it, the management has marked Bumrah and Harshal Patel as the two sure-shot starters in the playing XI while Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur & Mohammad Siraj will be fighting for the third pacer's spot. 

Even though things aren't looking very simple at the moment due to so many players playing and performing but the management has locked their core and working to fill in the gaps. This could be India's World Cup if all things fall into place timely.