India’s cricket season has not exactly been the best as 2022 comes to a close. The new year does, however, bring with it fresh optimism in what will be a crucial year for the players and the BCCI. In the year of the 2023 World Cup, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Rahul Dravid’s futures are all in jeopardy.
The Asia Cup, Border Gavaskar Trophy, and perhaps even the WTC Final are all on the line for the Men in Blue.
1. Different Selection Committee for India
The BCCI fired the Chetan Sharma-led selection committee in the wake of their elimination from the T20 World Cup. They were subsequently given a two-month extension, albeit the CAC had not yet chosen the new panel. Maninder Singh and Venkatesh Prasad are just a couple of the names up for consideration. In order to spearhead their revamp in the quickest format of the game, BCCI is also searching for a new T20 selector.
2. Restart T20
Since their victory in the tournament’s debut year in 2007, they have not claimed victory. India did not perform well at either of the two World Cups in 2021 and 2022. As a result, there is an increasing demand for fundamental revisions to the format. The BCCI is considering appointing a new captain in addition to a new coach and selector. With a number of young people poised to replace elders, Hardik Pandya is anticipated to spearhead the change.
3. Test Championship of the World
In 2021, New Zealand defeated the Indian team in the World Test Championship championship match. The Men in Blue now have another chance to win the coveted crown after two years. Rohit Sharma’s team is in a prime position to secure a ticket for the game even though they haven’t officially reserved a spot. The Men in Blue have a chance to become the first team to win every ICC title since the WTC is the only trophy still missing from India’s trophy cabinet.
4. World Cup of ODIs
Toward the end of October 2023, India will host the World Cup. After 12 years, when MS Dhoni’s team won the championship, the competition comes back to India. India would be expected to put on a good performance because a home World Cup is accompanied by high expectations. Since the 2013 Champions Trophy, the Indian team has failed to claim an ICC championship, but 2023 offers plenty of opportunities for them to do so.
5. Gavaskar Border Award
The animosity between Australia and India has gotten worse and worse over time. It is anticipated to be another thrilling series because a spot in the WTC Final is at stake. In their last three efforts, they have not failed to win the BGT. Since 2004, Australia hasn’t triumphed in India. A thrilling four-match Test series is forthcoming.
Two potential captains for WHITE BALL CRICKET are being considered by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). The ODI and T20 teams for India will now have a responsible captain.
InsideSport has learned that the plan will be put into action beginning in January with a home series against Sri Lanka. India will take on Sri Lanka in 3 ODIs and 3 T20s, with unique captains for each team. The ODI team will continue to be captained by Rohit Sharma, while the T20 team will be captained by Hardik Pandya.
Although it’s too soon to say for sure, we are considering whether choosing separate leaders for the ODI and T20 squads is the best course of action. This will assist in distributing the workload among several people.
“In light of the ODI World Cup being held in India in 2023, we need a new approach for T20s while still maintaining consistency. The strategy can start working in January. One of the top BCCI officials said, “We will meet and make final calls.”
A New Year means a Fresh Start for Indian Cricket
India will meet Sri Lanka in a three-match ODI and three-match Twenty20 series.
Australia and New Zealand will be the next opponents in the HOME series.
It’s likely that Hardik Pandya will be named the T20 captain permanently in January.
India will be captained by Rohit Sharma in ODI and TEST games.
Will Rohit Sharma be bumped down?
The potential appointment of two captains makes it quite evident that Rohit Sharma would lose his T20 captaincy as a result of the Indian team’s dismal performance at the T20 World Cup.
“Losing the captaincy is not an issue. For Rohit, it’s about the future and reducing his workload. You can see that these men are not growing younger.” The BCCI official continued, “We think the T20 squad needs a fresh approach and new legs.”
A performance review meeting has been scheduled, according to InsideSport, which was confirmed by another senior BCCI official earlier on Saturday.
Rahul Dravid, Rohit Sharma, and Virat Kohli, a former captain, will all be invited by BCCI to the meeting. The BCCI Secretary will call the meeting, and the team’s appalling performance will be evaluated and discussed.
“We have scheduled a meeting with them. We are shocked by what transpired in the semifinal; certainly, adjustments are needed. But no choice would be made without taking into account their viewpoint. The future plan of action for the Indian T20 Squad would be decided with the input of Rohit, Rahul, and Virat,” according to the top BCCI official.
India’s upcoming T20 World Cup performance review?
The selection committee, directed by Chetan Sharma, has not performed very well, and BCCI is not too pleased either. Also being evaluated will be how they performed, and Chetan will most likely be replaced.
It is unclear if the Chairman of the Selection Committee has also been invited to the meeting for the Performance Review or not.
Rishabh Pant was not selected in either the ODI or T20I teams for India, which will play Sri Lanka starting on January 3.
India’s team announcement
With India’s ODI and T20I teams for the Sri Lanka home series announced on Tuesday, the decisions of the departing selection committee have drawn more criticism. As Rohit Sharma makes a comeback for the ODI series, Hardik Pandya will captain India in the three-match T20I series beginning January 3.
Due to the left thumb injury, he sustained in the second ODI against Bangladesh, Rohit has not entirely recovered. Rahul Tripathi, Shubman Gill, and two young seamers, Mukesh Kumar and Shivam Mavi, have all been called up for the T20I side, giving it a new appearance.
Having taken a break from the Bangladesh series, Suryakumar Yadav is back in the lineup and has been selected as the vice-captain of the T20I team.
Many absences and inclusions were unexpected, with Hardik Pandya upgraded to vice-captain for the ODIs despite KL Rahul’s presence clearly indicating a change in the leadership role in white-ball cricket.
Has Rishabh Pant been benched for the ODIs and T20 Internationals? The thumb injury to Rohit Sharma may still be bothering him, while KL Rahul may not be available because of personal obligations, but why is Virat Kohli’s name missing from the T20I squad?
Does that imply that he won’t be taken into account for the shortest format any longer? Does Bhuvneshwar Kumar share this trait?
None of the squads mention him by name. Regarding Shikhar Dhawan, what? In the ODI squad for the Sri Lanka series, the player who captained India in the most of ODI series last year has not been named.
Is he hurt or has he just been dismissed for good? Why was Sanju Samson benched for ODI matches?
The exclusions and inclusions are not explained in any way by the BCCI news release.
“India’s teams have been chosen by the All-India Senior Selection Committee for the next Mastercard Sri Lanka Tour of India, which will take place in January 2023. The tour includes three T20Is and the same number of ODIs.” Apart from the 16 names for the three T20Is and three ODIs, this is all that can be read.
Wednesday, December 21 will see a meeting of the Apex Council called by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
In this meeting, the BCCI has several items on its agenda, including an increase in central contracts and the appointment of a new selection committee. Various captains and coaches for various forms will also be discussed by the Apex Council. There will be an online meeting.
The 5 important decisions:
Hardik Pandya will take over as the full-time skipper in place of Rohit Sharma for the T20 competition.
Split Coaching: Rahul Dravid will no longer oversee the T20 squad
Extension of the central contract
Committee for BCCI Selection
Review of Nitin Patel and the physios for India in addition to fielding coach T Dilip
Age is not in Rohit Sharma’s favor; he will be 36 years old in April. The BCCI thinks Hardik Pandya has a chance to lead the T20 team. Notably, Rohit Sharma, 35, is the captain of India’s teams in all three formats at the moment. The workload, though, has caused him to battle injuries time and time again and to occasionally join and leave the club.
The concept of divided coaching will also be extensively discussed. Rahul Dravid claimed that he had a lot on his plate as a result of his hectic schedule.
Because the T20s have not yielded the intended results, the BCCI is thinking about a divided coaching role. The ODI and Test teams will continue to be coached by Dravid, and a successor may be appointed for the T20 squad.
The central contracts for Rohit Sharma & Co. will increase after five years. Due to the fact that BCCI received large payments from the IPL Media Rights, the players will benefit in several ways.
The BCCI is thinking about increasing annual retainership by 10–20% for the 2022–2023 season. Over the past four years, Indian players have participated in more games. They haven’t received any raises in spite of this, or even after the BCCI sold two more IPL franchises the previous year.
The nomination of a new selection committee will also be approved by the council.
Additionally, there is a chance that the issue of athletes’ frequent injuries will come up. So, in addition to fielding coach T Dilip, an evaluation of Nitin Patel and India’s physios could be completed in the meeting.
Australia have a golden opportunity to create history and become the first back-to-back Twenty20 world champions, but they face a formidable challenge led by India and England.
Aaron Finch’s men enjoy the advantage of being the only winners of cricket’s shortest format to have a crack at defending the title on home territory since the T20 World Cup started in 2007.
With a star-studded line-up spearheaded by David Warner, Pat Cummins and Glenn Maxwell, the Australians also boast all but one of the team that won the tournament last year in the UAE.
Finch, who recently stood down as one-day skipper to focus on T20s, suggested they will be all guns blazing in defence of the trophy.
“If in doubt, be overly aggressive. That is how we want to play,” he said.
“At times that is going to come with high risk and high reward. At times it comes with no reward. That is just a part of T20.”
The tournament’s eighth edition begins on Sunday with Sri Lanka facing Namibia and UAE against Netherlands in a first qualifying round at Geelong, one of seven venues being used for the 45 matches.
Games will also be held in Adelaide, Brisbane, Hobart, Perth and Sydney, with the final on November 13 under lights at the cavernous Melbourne Cricket Ground.
The top nations join on October 22 when Australia open their defence against Kane Williamson’s New Zealand in Sydney — a repeat of the 2021 final in Dubai where Mitchell Marsh’s unbeaten 77 powered them to an eight-wicket win and maiden crown.
– Blockbuster clash –
Despite a couple of key absences India and England are the favourites along with Australia.
England face fast-improving Afghanistan in Perth for their opener on October 22 but will be missing star batsman Johnny Bairstow after he suffered a serious leg injury in a “freak accident” on the golf course.
A blockbuster clash follows 24 hours later in Melbourne when India take on arch-rivals and 2009 champions Pakistan, with more than 90,000 fans expected.
India suffered a huge blow last week when pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah was ruled out of the World Cup with a back injury, further depleting the stocks of a side that has lacked steam in the final overs of the T20 format.
All-rounder Ravindra Jadeja is also absent with a knee problem.
While Rohit Sharma’s side are ranked number one, they haven’t lifted the T20 trophy since 2007 and failed to reach the semi-finals last year.
“Areas of concerns, we have to look at our bowling, what more options we can find in the powerplay, middle and death,” said swashbuckling opener Sharma, who along with run machine Virat Kohli will be key to their chances.
“It will be challenging and we need to find answers, still working towards that.”
– England threat –
World number two England are also a big threat for a first title since 2010 and beat Australia in a warm-up match on Sunday.
They are in Australia on the back of a 4-3 triumph in Pakistan, a series in which captain Jos Buttler attended but played no part as he recovered from a calf injury.
He is though fit for the World Cup and insisted not playing had its benefits.
“I’ve learned lots listening to the group and watching the way they go about things, watching without as much emotion as when you are involved and thinking about what you will do at certain times,” he told reporters.
The West Indies are the only two-time champions — in 2012 and 2016 — but in a shock failed to automatically qualify for the Super 12 stage because they were outside the top-eight-ranked ICC teams at the time.
It means they play the first round of the 16-nation tournament despite now being ranked seven.
Nicholas Pooran captains an inexperienced side after Andre Russell was overlooked and a slew of veterans called time on their international careers.
They are paired with Scotland, Ireland and Zimbabwe and kick off against the Scots on October 17.
Recently crowned Asian champions Sri Lanka are in the same boat despite now being ranked eight and are grouped with Namibia, Netherlands and UAE in the preliminaries.
The top two from each group join the Super 12 nations — England, New Zealand, Australia and Afghanistan in Group 1; India, Pakistan, South Africa and Bangladesh in Group 2.
Despite the fact that they occurred a year apart, India’s two T20 World Cup losses have been by a margin of at least ten wickets. Five reasons India didn’t win the T20 World Cup are listed below after a thorough analysis.
India suffered a humiliating loss to England in the semifinals, and as a result, they were eliminated from the T20 World Cup. Despite the fact that it may seem impolite, India’s two World Cup appearances, separated by a year, were both marked by losses by 10 wickets.
It was anticipated that India would revolutionize their approach to T20 cricket after they were eliminated from last year’s World Cup in the UAE with a fresh change of guard and the so-called “new batting blueprint,” but a year later, Indian T20 cricket is still stuck in the same rut.
The vulnerabilities are still very much present if you want to defeat Pakistan in India’s first Super-12 match since Ravi Shastri retired and Virat Kohli gave over the captaincy.
India has lost an ICC competition for the seventh time in nine years, despite coming close once again. The Men in Blue, who once again faltered in a knockout match, are again under heavy scrutiny due to the infamous “C” word, which has come to be associated with South Africa over the years.
This will be a hard pill to stomach for a team that has dominated bilateral series at home and pulled off some memorable victories abroad. While part of it may be the result of tactical mistakes, most of it was caused by underlying issues that came to light when it mattered most.
What were they? After careful consideration, we have come up with a list of five reasons why India was unable to claim the T20 World Cup.
No room for India’s top wrist-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal
Image of Yuzvendra Chahal, from Wikipedia.
No matter what, Only the team management knows why Yuzvendra Chahal is still benched in favor of R Ashwin despite being India’s top limited-overs spinner with 21 wickets from 19 games.
Many people thought India would learn from the error of leaving Chahal out of their T20 World Cup squad last year, but that was not the case. Shadab Khan of Pakistan and Adil Rashid of England frequently caused trouble for hitters with their wrist spin in this event, but Chahal did not receive a single game. Why? We might never find out.
However, it sends out an even worse message if the tactical decision was made with the idea that Ashwin can help you out with runs, as he did by scoring the winning runs against Pakistan and slamming a six and a four against Bangladesh.
India’s renowned top-order deserves a beating and to have their roles in the squad reevaluated if Ashwin the spinner is included in the playing XI as an all-rounder.
Powerplay Confusion: Where did the novel hitting strategy go?
After India lost to Pakistan and New Zealand in the World Cup last year, the epithet “timid” began to represent their batting approach. Sure enough, after Rohit Sharma took over as coach, things changed, even if it meant one of India’s finest batters looked awkward.
Even if Rohit’s fluency was far from perfect, his new role was at the very least interesting. Watching India, led by Rohit, go after the bowling during the Powerplay was refreshing and was predicted to be a game-changer for the team.
DK vs. Pant: Youth over experience is not the way to go in T20s
T20 is a young man’s game, so even with Dinesh Karthik’s recent dives, picking up a 37-year-old for the World Cup seemed a risky choice. Over the years, India has encountered innumerable predicaments that were created for Karthik, situations in which he would have imagined himself saving India.
With the exception of the Nidahas Trophy final, though, Karthik has often missed his chance. Although everyone enjoys a good comeback tale, in T20 cricket, performance is more important than fairy tales. DK’s selection over the hot-shot Rishabh Pant was perplexing on many counts.
The man, who is already a Test match legend, broke the ODI code earlier this year in England with a century.
Maintaining KL Rahul as the leader
Image of KL Rahul, from Wikipedia.
Eight months into 2022, in August at the Asia Cup, KL Rahul played his first T20I match of the year. Rahul did not participate in a single T20I match for India between November 19, 2021, and August 28, 2022, and he was immediately inserted back into the opener’s position.
Since his return, Rahul has amassed four half-centuries, all of which have been achieved at an aimless strike rate. Rahul struck two more 50s during the World Cup—against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe—but each time, Rahul fell short of expectations when the stakes were high.
Rahul resembles a pallid version of himself now. Rahul no longer explodes when he hits a huge six like he used to. Even Rahul, an IPL player for the Punjab Kings, could have benefited India. But unfortunately… It’s time for Indian cricket to move on from him, at least in T20Is, especially with Shubman Gill waiting in the wings and in excellent form.
True tempo is lacking
For India, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Arshdeep excelled. While the young left-arm pacer, very correctly, established himself as the next big thing in Indian cricket, the seasoned India quick displayed glimmers of his glorious self.
India lacked a true pacer who could consistently hit 145 ticks on Australian pitches, though. The instant Jasprit Bumrah sustained an injury, the alarm bells began to ring, and despite Mohammed Shami’s late SOS—he hadn’t participated in a T20I since November of last year—India had a significant box left unticked.
