Their run to the final in the 50-over World Cup, which saw a different Rohit at the top and a run-hungry Kohli in at No. 3 successfully convinced the power centres at the BCCI to go back to the two.
Having spent a good part of 12 months building a team in tune with the demands of T20 cricket for the World Cup in June, it was in January that India took a U-turn. By bringing back Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli for the T20Is against Afghanistan – the last international series before the T20 World Cup – it was evident which way India were heading. Two out of India’s top three in the batting line-up, which was considered a problematic area in the last T20 World Cups in totally different conditions, would get on the plane to the US and Caribbean as well. And word is that if the team management had its way, there was a strong chance that KL Rahul too found his spot back.
But here we are, with two elephants in the room. In essence, India are hoping to end their ICC title drought by pinning their hopes on more or less a similar blueprint that didn’t yield them success in the UAE and Australia. It is the reason why the selectors tried the likes of Ishan Kishan, Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ruturaj Gaikwad and even Rishabh Pant as openers. And in the middle-order, where they didn’t have firepower in their ranks, they chose to invest in Tilak Verma, Rinku Singh, Sanju Samson, Jitesh Sharma, Axar Patel, Shivam Dube with Suryakumar Yadav being the bridge between top-order and middle-order. A 360-degree player sandwiched between power-packed openers and the firepower of middle-order. After 17 seasons of the IPL, it seemed as if India were finally close to cracking the T20 formula.
Source:indianexpress.com