The T20 format is also evolving at speeds that sometimes tend to overwhelm even the most enthusiastic coaching expert and backroom data processor. This makes long-term planning for events like the World Cups fraught with danger and an absolute necessity. With just a pinch of T20 Internationals in each bilateral series, it is imperative that optimal use is made of each set.
Australia’s starter David Warner even seemed upset the other day that the ODIs were being played, saying: “Our white ball teams are relevant to the World Cups. Since there is a World Cup T20 coming soon in India, the preference will be T20 material first. ”
Of course, there is another way of putting this: Warner’s mind space has to do with T20 at the moment, given that he and many other leading players have been playing in the game. IPL from September 19.
Cricket’s leading minds have spent two months in their biobubbles playing and discussing strategies and combinations 24-7 and helping the T20s evolve. Despite some obvious limitations of the format, everything was done for popular viewing. IPL is now the main topic of the T20 format and the gold standard of the T20 strategy.
So where does that leave T20 Internationals? For the fans, can multi-format-focused international teams, with slightly different selection parameters, deliver such an exciting and delightfully complicated T20 package as the IPL? Should international teams ditch the idea of picking pedigree players for all formats and instead create squads fully focused on T20?
Last year, before the pandemic hit and derailed the World Cup, coach Ravi Shastri had said that the ODIs and the T20Is have “very different identities and you can’t see it through the mere lens of a cue ball. Cricket. T20 is a completely different ball game and this is how we are going to chase it. I don’t see more than four or five players on the ODI team as permanent fixtures in T20. ”
Shastri is well aware of a few other issues that the Indian team must address in the run-up to the World Cup, starting with the question of the divided captaincy, and not just because of Rohit Sharma’s supposed superior tactical ability.
The best in the world go head-to-head! See the ODI statistics between Australia and India before Dett … https://t.co/O40YHwJ2rf
– cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) 1606341960000
Kohli may not be a minor T20 captain as he won 68.57% games as the leader (though only 33.33% against Australia) and scored 1,137 runs (SR 142.48) in 37 games. However, will ceding the captaincy of the T20 ease the pressure on Kohli to lead in all three formats and benefit India in the long run?
India also needs to tackle a falling T20 win record while hitting first (77.78% won chasing rather than 64.52% won first) if they are to get their hands on the only trophy that has eluded them since 2007.
This is a format that requires specialization, and right now, IPL franchises can offer more value per player than international teams. Most of the T20 innovations of late have also come from franchise cricket. International teams, including India, may need to choose a sheet from the IPL guide to implement Shastri’s plans to pursue a “completely different ball game.”
.
