Following an early exit from the Asia Cup 2022, India returned to what they were doing flawlessly before that competition – winning bilateral series. The men in blue defeated Australia 2-1 in a three-match T20I series, and while this victory is not remotely comparable to an Asia Cup glory, its importance is paramount from another perspective.
India will take on Pakistan for their opening ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 match in less than a month, and unlike last year, the men in blue would want to go into the tournament fully-prepared, with a fair idea about their strengths and weaknesses.
The series against Australia helped India tick those boxes. The areas which need immediate amendments were left exposed, while certain aspects looked more secure than previous assumptions.
In this article, we will discuss the five things we learned from this series.
1. Suryakumar Yadav Is India’s Trump Card
Statistics show that the Indian top three of KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, and Virat Kohli have scored 9383 T20I runs between them. Purely on numbers, it will be difficult to find a trio as great, but in this version of the game, impact trumps numbers.
Suryakumar Yadav is going to be India’s batting trump card in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 owing to his impactful knocks, which he has been playing on a consistent basis. In this series against Australia, he was India’s leading run-scorer with 115 runs in three matches at a strike rate of 185.48.
Barring his runs tally, Yadav also deserves praise for comfortably getting his team out of pressure on multiple occasions. In the first T20I, he came to bat when India was struggling at 35/2, with both Virat Kohli and Rohit being sent back to the pavilion. Instead of hiding behind a defensive shell, the Mumbai-born player played an aggressive knock of 46 runs from 25 deliveries.
The story in the last T20I was along similar lines. Chasing a target of 187 runs, India found itself struggling at 30/2, when the 32-year-old was called up to rescue his team. Rescue he did, and did so with flamboyance and style by scoring 69 runs from 36 deliveries.
The Indian team is consistently trying to inculcate an ‘England-like’ aggressive batting approach since the debacle in the previous edition of the T20 World Cup, and in that particular race, Yadav has left everyone behind. His strike rate in T20I cricket since the T20 World Cup 2021 is 177.80, while among those who have batted a minimum of 100 deliveries since then, no batter has been able to score at a strike rate north of 160.
2. Virat Kohli and Reliability – A Reunion (Of Sorts)
With two half-centuries and a century in Asia Cup 2022 – against Hong Kong, Pakistan, and Afghanistan respectively, Virat Kohli announced his return to form before the series against Australia.
However, to differentiate an oasis from a mirage, it was imperative for the former Indian skipper to score runs against the Aussies. The first two matches did not go according to plans, but the 33-year-old ended the series on a positive note.
In the last T20I, at a stage when both openers had departed much earlier than expected, Kohli did a commendable job of steering the Indian inning, as he scored 63 runs from 48 deliveries. The strike rate of 131.25 might stick out like a sore thumb in a chase of 187 runs, but with Yadav launching ballistics from the other end, it was perhaps the right call from Kohli to avoid taking unnecessary risks.
3. Axar Patel Is More Than a Stop-Gap Injury Replacement
The injury to Ravindra Jadeja was interpreted as an immediate decrement in India’s chances of winning the T20 World Cup this year, and though the all-rounder will still be missed, the significance of his absence has perhaps lowered after the series against Australia, given how Axar Patel is performing.
He was India’s leading wicket-taker with eight wickets, and also had the best average (7.87) and economy rate (6.30 runs per over) among the bowlers from his team. Though the numbers are enough to portray Patel’s performance against Australia, adding context to it will help understand the importance of his contributions.
In the first T20I, the 28-year-old provided India with a crucial breakthrough exactly when the game was slipping out of their grasp, as Cameron Green and Steve Smith had built a 70-run stand for the second wicket. Then, in the last match, Patel put a stop on the onslaught after a fantastic start, as Aaron Finch and Cameron Green had scored 44 runs in only 19 deliveries.
4. Death Bowling Remains the Biggest Headache
With the positives listed out, we now turn our attention to the problems India must address at the earliest, before they become the team’s nemesis when the stakes are at their highest. The major concern for India, a year ago, was their top-order, but now, it is their death bowling.
The issue was visible at the Asia Cup 2022, and this series has only vindicated the doubts, with the Indian bowlers proving to be expensive at the death a bit more consistently than they would ideally prefer.
In the first T20I, Australia went from 154/5 to 207/5 in a span of only 20 deliveries. In the second T20I, which was a rain-curtailed affair, Aaron Finch’s team scored 44 runs in the last three overs. A similar theme was seen in the last fixture as well, with India conceding 43 runs between the 18th and 20th overs.
Skipper Rohit Sharma used a total of five different bowlers at the death (overs 16-20) against Australia, and all of them conceded over 10 runs per over. Bhuvneshwar Kumar proved to be the most expensive of the five, conceding 17 runs per over at the death.
5. The Chahal Complex
Axar Patel’s performance made up for many of India’s drawbacks, with one of them being the lack of impact from India’s frontline spin asset, Yuzvendra Chahal. After being left out of the Indian squad for the last edition of the T20 World Cup, the leg-spinner did well to make a case for himself on his return.
Yet, after successfully safeguarding his place in the team, Chahal’s form has taken a dip. The 32-year-old has scalped only six wickets in his last seven appearances for the national team – including two wickets in the three T20Is against Australia.
Besides his lack of wickets, Chahal’s economy rate is adding to India’s worries. He was the most expensive Indian spinner in the Asia Cup, barring wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik’s standalone over, and against Australia, he conceded 9.12 runs per over.
Though India has an alternative in Ravichandran Ashwin, the management would want to field a leg-spinner in the playing XI, and with Ravi Bishnoi not named in the team, Chahal’s performance will play a crucial role in determining India’s success.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)