T20 World Cup: Change is here, where’s India?

We’re often left with contrasting reflections when we look back on 2007. It all started with that sinister 50-over World Cup. Bob Woolmer had died in circumstances still deemed mysterious.

When Rahul Dravid’s troops made an early exit from the Caribbean, there was a clamour to cleanse India’s consciousness of cricket. The sport had been stripped of its soul.

In such times, a young team led by MS Dhoni set off to South Africa for a World T20 championship with nothing to lose.

Twenty20, whatever it meant in 2007. For India, it was an intrusion on cricket’s shrine. Their top assembly, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly, sensed early that they would be an embarrassment in this game of quick thrills.

The tournament, for once, was devoid of any marketing gimmick. For a change, India didn’t seem to be heading to a warfront. Technique and strategies weren’t dissected to the last detail.

In the midst of it all, there was the Indian captain with a thick head of hair, flowing sideburns and a smile on the field. Dhoni winked at a fumble and, refreshingly, laughed at himself when India won a bowl-out against Pakistan.

Suddenly, they were doing a few things right. Underarm flicks were finding the stumps. Dinesh Karthik coiling on his back to pluck Graeme Smith at slip remains one of the poignant images of the tournament.

Yuvraj Singh’s interminable growl on taking a catch against Australia, that Stuart Broad over, and caught-Sreesanth-bowled-Joginder are stories that’ll be handed down through generations. It was hard not to be a T20 convert.

Now, five years have passed, and the format has been demystified to a certain extent. But while most sides have become smarter, India, surprisingly, seem to be caught in a time warp. In 2009, they carried the emotional baggage of being title holders to England.

And the spectre of the short ball travelled with them in the West Indies. In the last two editions, they were shunted aside in the Super Eight stages. The freshness had gone; T20 championships ceased to be adventure flicks.

India’s best year in T20 was in 2007 when they won five out of seven matches and were once held to a tie. Since then, they have struggled to maintain a 50 per cent success rate in this format. Their overall win per cent is 48, although they played a significant number of ODIs (ten) only in 2009. So what has changed all these years?

The advent of T20 specialists is instructive. There’s is a Craig Kieswetter in almost every side – men hired for utilitarian value.

Think of the England side doing duty in Sri Lanka. Michael Lumb, Danny Briggs, Luke Wright, Alex Hales and, to a lesser extent, Jos Buttler are not regulars in England’s ODI side. But they are T20 thoroughbreds. India’s ODI side is identical to their T20 side. Ironically, the IPL hasn’t churned out T20 specialists for India. Only the established Indian stars appear to have been direct beneficiaries of the league, Suresh Raina for instance.

The West Indies T20 composition epitomises the way T20 is going. They have three genuine all-rounders in Dwayne Bravo, Kieron Pollard and Andre Russell and two workable options in Marlon Samuels and Chris Gayle. India’s all-rounder debate starts with Irfan Pathan and ends there. In an age when good fielding is non-negotiable, India carry laggards such as Virender Sehwag and Zaheer Khan who may not walk into any T20 side by divine right. Not that Gautam Gambhir and L Balaji merit too high a grade on the field either.

Which team, though, in its true senses will play down India’s chances? Familiarity with sub-continental conditions, explosive batsmen and a captain on whose cradle the fairies knock can offset the other limitations. Luck, how often it’s understated in T20. Who but Dhoni will agree?