Finding answers without two ace bowlers

India will look to lift the title for second time without their star duo

India will enter the International Cricket Council (ICC) T20 World Cup 2022 as one of the favourites to once again lift the title, after all, they are the top-ranked team in the world, just ahead of second-placed England.

The tournament is set to be played in Australia where the home team will be defending their crown after winning the title last year in the United Arab Emirates(UAE).

The Men-in-Blue had a horrendous outing in the last year’s mega-event where they were knocked out of the first round after losing to arch-rivals Pakistan and New Zealand in the first two matches.

Therefore, the management will be hoping that Rohit Sharma and his players will be able to produce a much better performance this time around than they did roughly 12 months back.

India have featured in 38 matches in the history of the ICC T20 World Cups where they won on 24 occasions and suffered defeat just 13 times whereas one match ended without a result.

Strengths:

India’s strength in this year’s mega-event, just like in a lot of mega events in the recent past, will be their batting firepower.

The Men-in-Blue arguably have one of the strongest batting lineups currently in the world in the form of Rohit Sharm, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul and others.

One of the players to especially watch out for in this competition will be Suryakumar Yadav who has been in sublime form this year, scoring at a strike-rate of 184.56 along with an average of over 40.

The 32-year-old has given impetus to India’s innings on most occasions and the management will be hoping to see him continue producing the goods.

Along with him, there will be also a focus on the likes of Hardik Pandya who has been in more than decent form this year with the bat in hand, having already contributed to some crucial wins.

He will have a bigger role to play especially with Ravindra Jadeja being ruled out of the competition following a freak injury.

One of the areas where team India will have a call to make will be the wicketkeeper-batter’s department where there is some competition between Dinesh Karthik and Rishabh Pant.

The veteran right-hander is often called one of the best finishers in the country in the T20 format whereas the left-hander has an outstanding record of playing Down Under in different formats.

Weakness:

India’s weakness in this year’s competition will be once again their bowling department which has weakened further with the absence of two key bowlers.

Star pacer Jasprit Bumrah has been ruled out of the competition after failing to recover from a stress fracture and was replaced by Mohammad Shami.

On the other hand, star left-arm spin all-rounder Jadeja will also miss the competition and he has been replaced by Axar Patel in the squad.

Even though the replacements are not as bad but the reality is that both Bumrah and Jadeja have been the main pillars of India’s bowling unit in T20Is over the last few years and the void left by their absence will be hard to fill.

Fixtures:

India are placed in Group 2 in the Super 12s along side arch-rivals Pakistan, South Africa, Bangladesh and two teams will join after the qualifying round.

The Men-in-Blue will play their opening match in the competition against the Babar Azam-led unit on October 23 in Melbourne whereas their final league fixture will be played at the same venue on November 06 against the team qualifying as the winner of Group B.

Squad:

Rohit Sharma (captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant, Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, Ravichandran Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Mohammad Shami (replaces injured Jasprit Bumrah), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh