In this article we asses the reasons why we think India will win the 2014 World T20 Tournament
The World T20 fever is slowly gathering attention and the fans are waiting on their feet to see the tournament getting underway in Bangladesh in a week’s time. There are four different winners in the past and India is one among them as they won the inaugural World T20 in South Africa. Since then, they didn’t pose a threat to the oppositions in the tournament. In the previous edit ion in 2012, India just lost one match in the tournament but they failed to qualify for the semi-finals, Courtesy their Net Run Rate. This time around, the men in blue will be looking to pounce back hard after a series of failures since December. Here are the reasons why India should win the tournament.
Familiar Conditions:
The Indians have had a torrid time on the shores of South Africa and New Zealand where they failed to win a single match out of the 12 played. Surely those conditions are known to be against India’s favour. But the 2014 World T20 is scheduled to take place in Bangladesh, where the conditions are similar to what the team gets in India. The wickets are expected to be batsmen friendly without aiding the fast bowlers. Spinners get a bagful of help from the wicket. The boundaries are short even a mishit will carry into the stands. The dew will come into play in the later stages of the game. India will be well prepared to play matches in these conditions rather than the ones aiding the Pacers under some overcast skies. This should give the Indian team a major boost ahead of the tournament.
Mighty Batting Line-up:
India’s bowling has been its weak link for the past few years. It remains the same for the World T20 too. The Indian bowlers are well known for leaking away runs at will. Even a batsman struggling to find his form will score heavily against the mighty Indian bowling attack. Unlike the bowlers, the Indian batsmen are a destructive force to reckon with. India have some world class batsmen in their ranks which includes the likes of best ODI batsman at present Virat Kohli, best finisher at the moment MS Dhoni and the talented Rohit Sharma. Rohit in particular is the best batsman in World T20’s with a average of 55. Virat has been the backbone of Indian batting line-up for some time now. The batsmen has the ability to chase down the target that is set by their bowlers. India will prefer to chase down the target set by the opposition rather than setting one for them to chase down.
Deadly Spin Trio:
India are known to produce some quality spinners. Spinners are given the job of controlling the run flow after the opposition batsmen punishes the Pacers. It wold not be a surprise if MS Dhoni decides to go in with three frontline spinners in Ashwin, Amit Mishra and Ravindra Jadeja. All the three are in fine form especially Jadeja, who has been impressive in the past few months. After being benched for almost all the matches, Amit Mishra showed how important he is to the team when he was given a chance in the Asia Cup. R. Ashwin is a versatile bowler who has some variations up his sleeves and would like to bowl with the field restrictions on. Ashwin bowling in the powerplay overs will also allow Mohammad Shami to bowl majority of his overs at the death. The venue for the World T20 is a blessing in disguise for Ashwin and co. The spin trio has to perform well for India if they believe to win the tournament. There are huge expectations on the spinners to play a major role in the World T20.
Players hungry for Triumph:
After being at the receiving end for three months, Team India will look to bounce back in the World T20. They failed to win matches in South Africa and New Zealand and won just two matches in the 2014 Asia Cup, that too against minnows Bangladesh and Afghanistan. The players are hungry for a victory in the World T20. This was evident by the fact that skipper MS Dhoni who was advised to rest for one month has expressed his desire to play in the tournament and lead India from the front. Players like Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina, who are making a comeback into the Indian side will look to get some runs under their belt. Yuvraj has been in good touch and will look to carry his form into the World T20. Nothing is more dangerous than Yuvraj in full flow in a Twenty20 game. Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, the future of Indian batting will be hungry for runs in the tournament and show the world what they are capable of.
India are grouped in Group of Death alongside Pakistan, Australia, defending Champions West Indies and a qualifier. The players have to play out of their skins to win the tournament for India. They have done it in the past and now the onus is on the young Indian Brigade to carry the side to victory. I got a gut feeling that Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Yuvraj Singh and the spinners will perform well and carry India to success at the World T20.
