The Indian team made its return to the international cricket arena after a break of almost nine months. After the 3-match ODI series against Australia, the Men in Blue will now battle the mighty Aussies in a 3-match T20I series.
It is pertinent to note that the T20 World Cup was going to happen in Australia earlier this year. However, the ICC decided to postpone the event to 2022 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Indian team had played its last T20I against New Zealand, where KL Rahul captained in the second innings and helped the team win.
India had won the 5-match series with a clinical scoreline of 5-0. It will be interesting to see if the Indian team could replicate the same performance against Australia.
While Australia are yet to win their first T20 World Cup, they are at the number one position on the ICC T20I Rankings right now. The 3-match T20I series promises to be a cracker of a contest and here’s a look at the SWOT Analysis of the Indian T20I squad.
Strengths
Generally, the Indian batting lineup is considered stronger than the team’s bowling department. However, that trend has reversed in the last few years. The likes of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami have tormented the opposition batsmen in the game’s shortest format.
Navdeep Saini is another bowler who can trouble the batsmen with his pace. Besides, T Natarajan has received his maiden T20I call-up ahead of this series. Initially, Varun Chakravarthy was supposed to play in the 3-match T20I series. However, a last-minute injury ruled him out of the Australian tour.
The duo of T Natarajan and Jasprit Bumrah could make life difficult for the Aussie batsmen, especially in the slog overs. Not to forget, Deepak Chahar has the best bowling figures in T20I history to his name.
Weaknesses
The middle-order problems have hurt the Indian team in the limited-overs formats. While KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer have solved the Indian team’s middle-order issues in the 50-overs format, Rahul will likely open the innings in the T20I format. The wicket-keeper batsman played a pivotal role in India’s 5-0 win against New Zealand.
Thus, Rahul will bat at the opening position. Shikhar Dhawan may open with him, with Virat Kohli backing up at number three. Shreyas Iyer and Manish Pandey may take the next two positions. Otherwise, the other two choices are Rishabh Pant and Sanju Samson. Pant, Samson, and Pandey have not played with much consistency and that is something which could hurt India’s chances.
Opportunities
The T20I series provides a massive opportunity to Shikhar Dhawan and Mayank Agarwal to strengthen their candidature for a spot in the ICC T20 World Cup squad. Both batsmen will likely become back-up openers when Rohit Sharma returns to the squad. However, The Hitman’s absence gives them a chance to show their talent at the international level.
Apart from that, Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar will be keen to cement their spots as well. Varun Chakravarthy’s international call-up hinted that the selectors are looking for a new option. Thus, Sundar and Jadeja will have a chance to prove themselves.
Threats
The only threats for the Indian team are combination and balance. The squad is full of match-winners. However, to form a winning combo will be a hard task. Hardik Pandya can bat really well but he will not bowl until it is necessary.
His back issues mean that the Indian team will have one bowling option less. Also, there are not enough part-timers who can chip in and complete a bowler’s quota if he is having a bad day. Thus, this is the only threat to the Indian T20I squad.
