India Have Multiple Issues To Address Before ICC T20 World Cup
India went into the 2022 Asia Cup as the defending champions and the betting favorites. They had a good start to their Asia Cup campaign, but they lost two consecutive games, which Indian fans believe they should have won. As a result, Team India failed to make it to the 2022 Asia Cup finals as they were eliminated during the playoffs.
Losing the 2022 Asia Cup will be a big blow to the men in blue, but their bigger concerns are the chinks in their armour that Pakistan and Sri Lanka exploited during the Asia Cup. India does not have much time to address these chinks as they play Australia in a 3-match T20 series at home and then get ready for the ICC T20 World Cup, which starts on Oct 16.
ICC T20 Betting Favorites – India Still In Top Three
Australia is the current T20 World Champs and is a betting favorites with odds of 4.0 to win the 2022 T20 World Cup. Australia will host the T20 World Cup and definitely have the edge over the other teams with the home advantage.
Even though India had a poor showing in the 2022 Asia Cup, bookmakers still have them in the top three teams expected to win the T20 World Cup. India also has odds of 4.0 as of now, but we expect those odds to change after the India vs. Australia T20 series is decided towards the end of September.
England is the third betting favorites with odds of 4.50 to win the T20 World Cup. Apart from these teams, the other teams are underdogs, with New Zealand and Pakistan fourth in line as betting favorites with odds of 8.0.
T20 Concerns That India Must Address
Indian fans were not very happy with India’s performance in the T20 World Cup as they felt that India did not play to its potential. Indian fans are very knowledgeable about the game and saw several weaknesses that were exposed during the Asia Cup.
The big question is whether India will have sufficient time to address these weaknesses and fix them in time for the T20 World Cup, or will these weaknesses once again cause India to stumble in the T20 World Cup?
Captaincy and Coaching Concerns
Rahul Dravid hasn’t had the success he would have liked since taking over from Ravi Shastri. Dravid is under pressure going into India vs. Australia series. If India loses against Australia, that T20 World Cup could be a make-or-break series for Rahul Dravid as a coach.
The bigger concern is with the captaincy of Rohit Sharma, as Indian fans felt that Rohit lost his composure on more than one occasion during the 2022 Asia Cup. Rohit was criticized on social media for screaming, turning his back on his bowler when it mattered, and resting himself against Afghanistan.
Indian fans wanted to know why the captain was resting when India performed so poorly in their last two games at the Asia Cup. Rohit Sharma goes into India vs. Australia series under even more pressure than Rahul Dravid. Fans have criticized Rohit, saying that he needs four overseas players on his side to win T20 games – a sarcastic reference to his past IPL success with the Mumbai Indians.
We have seen that when Rohit is under pressure, he also fails with the bat, and India desperately needs Rohit to make big runs in Australia.
Selection Blunders
Former coach Ravi Shastri also questioned the team selection in the Asia Cup. With J Bumrah not playing, Shastri wanted to know why the selectors did not include M Shami in the playing XI. They also had Deepak Chahar in the squad but did not play him in the two games that India lost.
India must also get their batting order right ahead of the T20 World Cup. They are still experimenting with their batting order, but their experiments have not been very successful. India must decide whether they will play Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda, or Dinesh Karthik and which slot best suits them.
Fitness Concerns
India needs to be strong in Australia to do well in the T20 World Cup. Jasprit Bumrah is expected to be fit for the T20 World Cup, but Ravindra Jadeja may not be fit to play the World Cup. The selectors are looking to rest key players like Hardik Pandya and Rohit Sharma in the lead-up to the World Cup, but that strategy might backfire.
India vs. Australia series will give us a good indication of whether India has fixed their issues or not!
