Was the India cricket team’s brand of cricket under Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid outdated? Perhaps not in 2024, but two years later, it certainly is. India’s captain, Suryakumar Yadav, believes that had they tried to recreate what they did in 2024 in the 2026 T20 World Cup, the Men in Blue wouldn’t have won.
India sheds outdated approach
Suryakumar, with head coach Gautam Gambhir, wanted to free up players. No more going for personal milestones. No fixed batting spots. You don’t consolidate, you attack. Whether ahead or behind in the game.
“We knew the way we played the 2024 T20 World Cup — that brand of cricket — won’t work going ahead. So we decided: from hereon we will not pay attention to personal milestones, the goal is to win games. If you noticed, till the semifinals none of our players were top run-getters or top wicket-takers. But we qualified and kept winning. Every game, every player contributed. It was very important to spread this thing like a virus in the team from the start. We planted this team culture 18 months back,” Suryakumar told Indian Express.
2024’s Virat Kohli behind the curve?
India’s batting coach, Sitanshu Kotak, was also asked about the difference between the 2024 and 2026 units. He thinks the previous team had more experience. However, they lacked the aggression. Kotak cited Virat Kohli as the example. He was an anchor, something that the current Indian team doesn’t believe in.
“The difference, in a way, was that the earlier team was a very experienced side, with players like Rohit (Sharma), Virat (Kohli), and (Ravindra) Jadeja in it. They brought a lot of experience into that team. This current team, comparatively, has less experience. But having someone like (Jasprit) Bumrah helps, and of course, Hardik is there as well.
If you ask me, the bigger difference was probably in the way the innings were planned. Rohit was more like what we are trying to do now – fearless from ball one. Virat, on the other hand, is someone who builds partnerships, stays there with the other players, and tries to take the innings deep. So that was a different type of approach.
Then you have players like Hardik and Abhishek, who bring their own style to the game. Different players bring a different flavour to the team. So overall, I think there is a slightly different approach between the 2024 team and the 2026 side,” Kotal told Cricbuzz.
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