India's rising T20 fortunes

Team India seem a transformed side after a change in the format to T20. With the T20 World Cup on the horizon, this is a very good sign as the world’s first T20 champion (in 2007) will be a well-settled combination for a worthy attempt at conquering the world again. 

Australia, which beat India comfortably in the ODI format, has floundered because it has not been able to pick the combination best suited to the most instant demands. Australia’s problems should be of no concern to Dhoni who now has the chance to sign off after winning a second T20 World Cup after the first had projected him as the new captain with a distinct look of a destiny’s child.

This formidable look to Team India comes with the ability of its batsmen to be continuously aggressive at the crease, making the shrewdest choices in strokes to keep the board ticking combined with the ability to play the big shots at will. In contrast comes the Australians’ aim to hit the cover off every ball. Team India’s form has been known to vacillate among the three formats.

But the general rise of young teams is clear in the rise in world rankings. India is No. 1 in Tests, second in ODIs only behind World Cup champion Australia, and third by just a point behind the West Indies and Sri Lanka in T20s, which too would change soon after the third T20 against Australia on Sunday. And yet rankings would not mean as much as winning major silverware, which India has not since 2011. The opportunity to change that is at hand.