4 Issues team India is facing ahead of T20 World Cup 2020

2. Conservative batting approach

One of the theories that Kohli and the team-management gave when they decided to give more chances to off-spinning all-rounders like Washington Sundar, Krunal Pandya, and Ravindra Jadeja in place one of the wrist-spinners [Read: Kuldeep Yadav] was that bowling all-rounders gave the team more batting depth.

But, the question that begs to be asked is whether their batting approach compliments that theory. For far too long, India have treated T20Is as poor man’s ODI cricket, and so their approach of safety first, attack next has been a widely practiced norm in T20Is. And while that might work when they are chasing a target, it can prove to be counter-productive when it comes to setting a total, as has been evident in the games where India has batted first. The proof: India have an 8-8 record while batting first as compared to 14-3 when it comes to chasing.

Shikhar Dhawan’s dwindling T20 form and his inability to provide brisk starts coupled by Rohit Sharma’s inconsistent form at the top of the order were one of the prime reasons for it. And, the fact that KL Rahul- a guy with a 40+ average and 150+ strike-rate- was sitting out was madness. While that look’s like getting sorted with the southpaw and Rahul firmly staking his claim with consistent performances, India’s middle-order barring Virat Kohli and- to an extent- Shreyas Iyer does not inspire much confidence. 

In the last game, after being in a good position at 4-140 after 16 overs, India could only manage just 30 runs in the next 24 balls, which the Indian captain admitted in the post-match conference, is something that needs a lot of work on.