World Twenty20 team preview: India

Cricket365
March 14, 2014

Their recent form has been poor, in ODIs and Tests, and their skipper has been under fire as a result, as well as facing IPL match-fixing claims. All is not well in the state of India, and they have a tough group to get through.

Captain: Mahendra Singh Dhoni Coach: Duncan Fletcher WT20 Best: Champions, 2007

Overview Suffice to say, India have not had much T20 action in the past year and a bit, given they played a single match in 2013, winning against Australia, and none in 2014 so far. This doesn't seem like adequate preparation, somehow.

But, almost all their players are IPL key players, and the batting line up is one of the most deadly, in all formats. Dhawan, Kohli, Rohit, Raina, Yuvraj, MSD, the list goes on, all the way to Ashwin in the lower order.

But, their recent form has been poor, in ODIs and Tests, and their skipper has been under fire as a result, as well as facing IPL match-fixing claims. All is not well in the state of India, and they have a tough group to get through.

Key Batsman As mentioned before, one of six batsmen can swing the game India's way at the top of the order. But if they fail, as has often been the case recently, it's left up to MS Dhoni to do the job. He hits a cameo 30 off less than 20 balls to either ensure a defendable score, or chase down the required target. He doesn't get the glory centuries, but is vital at the death.

Key Bowler Oh India. Thew bowling attack is rather abysmal at the moment, especially in the pace department. Ashwin was the best in terms of wickets at the Asia Cup, but we're going to say that Ravi Jadeja will be the key bowler in this event. He has an uncanny golden arm knack, and his bowling has outstripped his batting in recent months.

Likely Benchwarmer We're going to go with fast bowler Varun Aaron, as he doesn't have a T20 cap yet and the spinners will probably get the places ahead of a third paceman. Also, he went at nearly 10 to the over in the one Asia Cup game he played, so isn't covered in glory.

Cricket365's Prediction The team certainly has the talent to make it to the final and even win it, if their batting department does all the work. The bowling, quite frankly, is rather rubbish, and for this reason we're going to predict a failure to reach the semis.

They Said: "For me, Duncan Fletcher would get 1.5 in a scale of 10 as far as his success is concerned. I believe a younger guy should be appointed as the coach of the Indian team." – former captain Sunil Gavaskar.

Squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Ajinkya Rahane, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Stuart Binny, Amit Mishra, Mohit Sharma, Varun Aaron.

Fixtures 21 March: Pakistan, Mirpur 23 March: West Indies, Mirpur 28 March: qualifying team, Mirpur 30 March: Australia, Mirpur