Extending their hegemony as the Number One team in Test cricket and competing hard as a formidable force in limited overs cricket, the Indian team has not been as potent in the T20I format, ranked fifth and placed in the middle of the ICC T2OI team rankings behind Pakistan, Australia, England and South Africa.

For Kohli and Co. who have made winning a habit which seems hard to die away anytime soon, consistency has deserted the 'Men in Blue' in T20 internationals all through 2019.


9 wins from 16 matches makes for a decent record but certainly not one which looks as superlative as their dominating performances in the other two formats at the international level. 


Indian T2OI Team Had A Mixed Bag Of Results With Sea-saw Season In 2019


India's 2019 T20I season can be best termed as a season of two distinct halves.. While the team had a couple of highs, there also endured their share of lows in a season which could be best described as a mixed bag.


India did not have the best possible start to their T20I campaign, losing to New Zealand (1-2) and then being handed an upset defeat by the Australians (0-2) on their home turf.




The sub continent tigers brought their derailed T20I campaign back on track, whitewashing the Windies (3-0) in the Caribbean before drawing level with South Africa (1-1) at home. The year ended on a high note for the Indians with hard fought series wins over a resilient Bangladesh (2-1) and defending World champions West Indies (2-1).

A dissection of their up and down T2OI season clearly indicates that while they emerged victorious against comparatively lower ranked teams, they found the going tough against top quality sides in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

The Indian T2OI team was devoid of a core nucleus and witnessed a lot of chipping and chopping all through the season to negate the effects of injuries to their seasoned campaigners. The rotation policy ensured a good blend of experience and young turks featuring in the playing eleven so as ensure proper workload management and have the best bunch of players available for the crunch matches.


The leadership also changed hands a couple of times with Rohit Sharma stepping in for the seasoned skipper Virat Kohli, giving the later much required break from a hectic playing schedule across formats.

 

Skipper Kohli Led Run Scoring Charts For Men In Blue in T20Is


Indian skipper and batting mainstay Virat Kohli  once again led by example with his stellar batting heroics, ending the year as the top run getter with 466 runs. Rohit Sharma was at his usual explosive best opening the innings (396 runs) and his extremely elegant new partner KL Rahul once again proved he is second to none with his scintillating stroke-play (356 runs) in the shortest format.


Experienced campaigner MS Dhoni was among the runs in Australia and New Zealand before being left out of the scheme of things courtesy a futuristic plan for World T20 and party his self imposed sabbatical from the sport.



 

Meanwhile, opener Shikhar Dhawan's patchy form and wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant's perennial failures with the willow proved to be a major worrying factor for the team management. While Shreyas Iyer (130 runs) produced quite a few sublime knocks, Sanju Samson was a bit unlucky to warm the benches after getting a well deserved call into the national team.



Talented Young Seam Brigade Stepped  Up Game In Bumrah's Absence

Injuries to front-line seamer Jasprit Bumrah and seam all-rounder Hardik Pandya meant India relied a lot on their new crop of seamers in T2OIs, who in turn showed promising signs of belonging to the top level.


While Deepak Chahar was highly successful in making early breakthroughs (16 wickets)  with his prodigious swing, tearaway speedster Navdeep Saini (6 wickets) racked up some serious pace to unnerve quite a few top batsmen.


Left arm seamer Khaleel Ahmed was impressive in patches and the ever dependable and experienced seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar was a bit off the radar considering his stellar success in the format. India certainly were dented by the absence of Jasprit Bumrah, especially in the death overs where he excels in choking the run flow.


Washington Sundar's Miserly Spells Were Highlight Of Spin

Indian spin attack in T2OIs had a new look with Kuldeep Yadav out of favour for most of the season. While ace leg spinner Yuzvendra Chahal blew hot and cold, Washington Sundar with his mixed bag proved to be the run choker (for the opposition, bowling some really economical spells.




It was delightful to see spin all rounder Ravindra Jadeja lending a fine balance to the team with his all-round heroics. Given plenty of opportunities, Krunal Pandya did not fare as consistently as he would have liked to.

With the build up the ICC T20 World Cup slated to be played in Australia next year, the Indian think tank are not only giving  youngsters like Mayank Markande, Rahul Chahar and Shivam Dube a great opportunity  to prove their mantle, they are also giving past experience its due weight, staging the comebacks of proven performers in Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammad Shami into the T20 fold.

With a fine blend of experience and youth under the aegis of skipper Kohli, it will be interesting to watch how team India gear up and fine tunes their best playing combination for conditions on offer in Australia to take on the heavyweights for the ICC World T20 which is less than a year away.