Mission Down Under: On the 2022 ICC Twenty20 World Cup
India must be looking to end the drought of ICC trophies
When defending champion Australia takes on last edition’s runner-up New Zealand at Sydney on Saturday, the ICC Twenty20 World Cup would have made a quick turnaround from its previous edition that was held last year in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The COVID-19 pandemic affected sport and T20’s premier championship suffered multiple changes in schedule besides the logistical nightmare of venues being altered. Finally, as the virus seemingly wanes, cricket’s shortest version moves Down Under during a time when the Indian Premier League (IPL), Big Bash and other mushrooming leagues are eating into the international calendar. With IPL franchises spreading footprints across the seas, especially in South Africa, contracted players are caught in an old debate borrowed from football — club versus country. For Twenty20 international fixtures often lost between forgettable bilateral contests and the glamorous sway of the IPL and other leagues, the T20 World Cup’s eighth edition that has already commenced through its set of qualifiers, will offer pointers to how the game could evolve through the prism of nationalism and commerce. The big game, as advertisers prefer to label it, would pit India against Pakistan at Melbourne on Sunday. The sold-out contest is the third between the neighbours after the Asia Cup jousts in the UAE.
While those two encounters were split at 1-1, in ICC events, India often gets past Pakistan but the latter’s triumph in the T20 World Cup last year offered a counter-point. Once this war minus the shooting template is dealt with, Rohit Sharma’s men have other challenges lined up in the Super 12 stage before making a tilt at the semifinals and the final on November 13. India last won an ICC event during the 2013 Champions Trophy in England. Subsequently, the Men in Blue have faltered and it is a blemish that coach Rahul Dravid and Rohit want to address. Having toured Australia well in Test whites over the last five years, India may draw strength from those memories but the absence of the injured duo of Ravindra Jadeja and Jasprit Bumrah could affect plans. Rohit, K.L. Rahul and Virat Kohli constitute the established troika but it is a tribute to his 360 degree approach that batter Suryakumar Yadav holds the x-factor. If Hardik Pandya can lend his all-round skills, India would be served well. The return of Mohammed Shami bolsters the seam attack and if the spinners can restrict and the fielding remains agile on big Australian grounds, India may fancy its chances of replicating its trophy success from the inaugural edition in 2007.