India whitewashed Kiwis in the T20I Series by 3-0. This series started a new era as the Legendary Rahul Dravid took over the reins from Ravi Shastri. Virat Kohli gave up his captaincy duties to focus on batting. BCCI named Rohit Sharma as the successor. India left no stone untouched as usual the bowlers & batters decimated the opponent. There was one trait seen of Rohit’s captaincy that he didn’t shout on his bowlers. Deepak Chahar was taken to the cleaners by Martin Guptill & during these times Rohit asked Deepak what we can do which resulted in a scalp. All in all India has got a new duo in the form of Rohit & Dravid where both know how to bring out most out of team members.
In this Covid-19 phase where players have to deal with bubble life & at the same time they have to experience life of a caged animal. The sticky schedule needs a rework as the players need mental space irrespective of bubble life. Franchise Cricket’s influence (*Second leg phase of IPL was started on 19th September -15th October) has somewhat dampened the importance of International Cricket. India’s recent failure at T20 World Cup is a testimony to this.
The duo of Virat Kohli & Ravi Shastri got India to great heights by winning T20I Series in Australia, England, New Zealand, West Indies & South Africa. This series victories created a sense of belief that India can flourish on any pitch. But it didn’t meant that India can play casually in ICC T20 World Cup. This culture needs to change as nothing is more important than the Nation.
New Zealand throughout the Series were looking mentally drained. Kiwis had played the final on 14th November & their next match was on 17th November. The Black Caps just literally where travelling from one city to another where there was no ample time for preparation. Even if a team is playing same format since last 1 month they need time to get accustomed to the conditions. On the 11th hour the skipper Kane Williamson opted out of T20I Series to focus on the upcoming Test Series. The Test Series for New Zealand will start their defense for ICC Test Championship 2023.
Rahul Dravid has an uphill task as he has less than a year to find out the winning combination. The next T20 World Cup is being slated in Australia 2022 in October-November. BCCI has started adopting rotation policy as they handed caps to Harshal Patel & Venkatesh Iyer. BCCI should keep one thing in their heed that building a team takes a lot of time.
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