Not long ago, India were crowned as the world champions in the shortest format of cricket. Their campaign was flawless, making the team very deserving of the victory. But even amidst those celebrations, there was a sobering reality check for the team and its fans. One which became further pronounced when Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma announced their retirement, leaving India’s future in the hands of a younger generation.
As is often the case with teams in transition, many expected India to struggle for stability. Yet, much to everyone’s surprise, that has not been the case with this team, which has lost only three out of the 20 games it has played since then.
The series win against England is their newest triumph. Indian coach Gautam Gambhir hailed his team for not succumbing to the fear of losing and playing their natural game in a ‘high-risk, high-reward’ style. Talking to the media after India defeated England in the last T20I, completing a 4-1 series win over them, Gambhir said,
“That’s the kind of T20 cricket we want to play. We don’t want to fear losing a game of cricket. We want to play high-risk, high-reward cricket. And these guys have adopted that ideology, that policy really well. And I think the ideology of this T20 team is based on selflessness and fearlessness. And I think in the last six months, these guys have done it day in, day out.”
India scored 247 runs in the last T20I, breaking Wankhede Stadium’s highest inning total record in the shortest format. As much as it’s an extraordinary feat, Gambhir wants his team to attempt to do it as often as they can.
“We want to try and get to 250-260 regularly,” Gambhir said. “And in trying to do that, there’ll be games where we’ll get bundled out for 120-130. And that is what T20 cricket is all about. And unless and until you don’t play that high-risk cricket, you won’t get those big rewards as well. Most importantly, I think we’re on the right track. Come those big tournaments, we want to still continue playing this way and we don’t want to fear losing anything.”
Indian skipper Suryakumar Yadav agrees with his coach about the team’s style-oriented approach. The duo has often maintained that they want to follow the game plan without worrying about the results.
“I mean, this is what we’ve sat down and spoken about, what brand of cricket we want to play and we’re just sticking to it irrespective of what’s going to happen,” Suryakumar said. “And it is a high-risk, high-reward game. But at the end of the day, what’s working for us, we’ll be doing that.”
Indian batters were nearly unstoppable throughout the series, but they had adequate help from their bowling counterparts. In all five games, India chose to field a spin-heavy bowling lineup with one specialist pacer. What helped India the most was that they had plenty of all-rounders to rely on. Barring the first game, Suryakumar Yadav used at least six bowlers throughout the series without compromising the batting depth.
Gambhir said batting deep is a crucial component of their aggressive game strategy.
“We always wanted to have that No. 8 batter, even if he doesn’t face too many balls, just because of the kind of cricket we are playing. We want to try and go as hard as possible. Sometimes that cushion of having that No. 8 [batter] allows the top seven to go out there and play even more freely.”
