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Follow UsIt is no secret that India’s triumph in the 2024 T20 World Cup was a direct byproduct of an inherent change in mentality — the competition saw the entire group right the wrongs of the past by shedding conservatism and embracing a never-seen-before fearless approach.
But the team’s triumph was as much a victory of the management as it was of the players. For, it was numerous bold selection calls made by the management that enabled the side to go all out and do things the way they wanted to.
We look at all the decisive selection and tactical calls made by the management that helped India break the 11-year trophy drought.
Dropping Yashasvi Jaiswal and pushing Virat Kohli up top
‘If Jaiswal does not play, we riot’ — this was the general sentiment prior to the 2024 T20WC, for the young left-hander was the only conventional ‘powerplay basher’ in the entire squad.
But the management made a very bold yet controversial decision at the start of the tournament, dropping Jaiswal and opening with Virat Kohli. Mind you, Kohli had never previously opened in T20WCs before. Plus, by doing this, the management were effectively fixing something that was not broken: Kohli averaged 81.50 batting at No.3 in T20 World Cups.
The call did not pay off directly: in the tournament, Rohit and Kohli averaged just 16.6 as an opening pair, with no fifty-plus partnerships. Kohli endured a horror tournament up until the final.
But what that move did was give tonnes of flexibility to the middle order, which ended up proving pivotal.
Having a middle order of Rishabh Pant, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, and Shivam Dube meant that India were able to win pretty much every matchup battle due to the middle order being filled with a) a mix of spin-bashers and pace-hitters and b) a combination of righties and lefties, often walking out to bat alternatively.
Giving Rishabh Pant the license at No.3
Nothing emphasized a ‘changed India’ more than the side slotting Pant in at No.3 and giving him the license to swing from ball one.
Pant finished T20WC 2024 with an average of 24.23 and a strike rate of 127.6 but, throughout the competition, played impactful knocks that discernibly upset the opponent’s momentum.
He crossed the 20-run mark in four of his eight innings, and all these knocks came at a strike rate of 135 or more.
While his 20 (11) and 36 (24) against Afghanistan and Bangladesh, respectively, helped the team capitalise on a good start, his 42 (31) against Pakistan helped India wrestle back the momentum after early wickets, with the team reeling at 19/2 in 2.4 overs at one point.
Backing Axar Patel throughout the tournament — even over Kuldeep in the initial stages
Pretty much everyone expected India to start the tournament with Jadeja and Kuldeep as the two frontline spinners, but the Men in Blue made a left-field call by instead starting with Jadeja and Axar, controversially leaving out the in-form Kuldeep.
But the move bore fruit in the Men in Blue’s very second group game, with Axar playing a pivotal hand with both bat and ball against Pakistan under extreme pressure.
Rahul Dravid & Co. then went on to back Axar throughout the competition, and that played a huge part in the team eventually triumphing.
The 30-year-old played a match-defining hand with the bat in the final against South Africa but also produced game-defining strikes in the semi-final against England. One game before that, he changed the course of the Australia encounter by taking a stunning catch to remove Mitchell Marsh, before following that up with a momentum-shifting 13th over with two set batters at the crease.
What was mighty impressive was how the management got the absolute best out of Axar, the batter, by smartly promoting him in two crucial games — against Pakistan and then South Africa — to conquer match-ups.
Crucially, backing Axar throughout the tournament — while having Jadeja in the XI — meant that India got much-needed batting depth that allowed them to play fearless cricket.
Giving Arshdeep Singh the nod over Siraj
Following a disappointing IPL 2024 for Arshdeep Singh — 19 wickets at an economy of 10.03 — it would have been convenient for the management to list him as the third seamer for this T20WC and back the more reputed and experienced Mohammed Siraj.
But when push came to shove, when a seamer had to be dropped in order to accommodate Kuldeep, it was Siraj who got the axe, with Arshdeep keeping his spot due to the variety he brings.
The bold call proved to be a masterstroke.
From the start of the Super 8s stage, Arshdeep bagged 10 wickets and produced crucial strikes throughout the latter half of the competition.
He saved his best for the last, in the final, first registering figures of 2-0-8-1 in the powerplay, before bagging the huge wicket of Quinton de Kock when the left-hander was looking to accelerate. It was Arshdeep’s four-run penultimate over that enabled Hardik Pandya to finish the job off in the final over.
Resisting the temptation to drop Shivam Dube
Heading into the semi-final, India would certainly have had the temptation to drop Shivam Dube and possibly bring in one of Sanju Samson or Jaiswal. Samson more than Jaiswal, considering the right-hander would have been the better ‘like-for-like’ replacement, as Samson for Dube would have been a direct swap that would not have affected the combination.
But they continued with the left-hander for the semi-final and still stuck by him after a golden duck in the semis against England.
As it turned out, Dube ended up repaying the faith in some style, producing his best performance of the T20WC in the final. The left-hander walked in at 106/4 in the 14th over and hammered a 16-ball 27 that pushed India’s total beyond 175.
What was impressive about Dube’s cameo in the final was how he murdered pace. Dube is a ‘spin-basher’ by profile, but he faced 12 balls of pace and smashed 21 runs, with half those runs coming against Anrich Nortje, who was the Proteas’ best pacer in the whole competition.
Throughout the competition, Rahul Dravid and co. went against conventional wisdom with some bold moves, which finally culminated in silverware.
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