Team India will look to end its title drought by lifting T20 World Cup

New Delhi: On the eve of starting their 2023 Men’s ODI World Cup campaign against Australia in Chennai, India skipper Rohit Sharma cut a candid yet serious figure while speaking about completing an unfinished business – of winning this title.

Over the next month and a half, Rohit and the Indian team sizzled with performances in all facets of the game and captured the imagination of everyone. Their road to this World Cup was full of uncertainty and injuries to key players.

Suddenly, in the run-up to the World Cup, everything seemed to fall in place and that led to a campaign where everyone felt that India won’t be denied their rightful date with destiny – of winning the trophy at home and ending the silverware drought.

But if there is something which has defined Indian cricket for quite some time, came back on November 19 – of a so close yet so far feeling in global events.

India makes for a formidable side in bilateral series, but has been defined to falter at the last hurdle.

Unfortunately, despite the ten wins on the trot and everything working in their favour, India’s fairytale script was put to a halt by Australia in the final.

As captain Pat Cummins said on pre-match day, he and his team managed to silence the huge army of blue jersey-wearing fans and spoil the party to grab their sixth World Cup title.

While Cummins and Australia basked in glory, Rohit and India had to endure yet another heartbreak, which would sting them and fans for a very long time. But in a calendar where there’s a global championship to be won in every year, one has to move on, which Rohit and Rahul Dravid reiterated themselves on the tour of South Africa.

Now, 2024 will bring another opportunity for India to add a silverware to its history pages when it criss-crosses through West Indies and the US from June 4-30 for the T20 World Cup.

Rohit knows what it means to achieve glory – as a member of the 2007 T20 World Cup winning side. At the same time, he knows what it is to endure a painful heartbreak – as captain of India finishing runners-up after a dominating run in the 2023 ODI World Cup, as well as having the same finish in the World Test Championship final.

But in the shortest format, 2023 will be seen as a year where India gave chances to plenty of youngsters and present their case for a spot in the World Cup team for 2024.

Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rinku Singh, Tilak Varma and Mukesh Kumar gave a good account of themselves across formats, and it won’t be a surprise if the quartet makes it to the T20 World Cup side.

While Jaiswal gives fast starts at the top and Varma can change the game on its head quickly, Rinku has made himself known as an excellent finisher.

Mukesh has also shown in glimpses that he can be a handy addition with the ball. Couple them with the experience of Rohit, Shubman Gill, Ishan Kishan, Mohammed Siraj, Ravindra Jadeja, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Arshdeep Singh and Jasprit Bumrah, then India will be well-served to go all the way for a title.

It’s just that the team think-tank needs to quickly decide if Rohit, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul, who last played T20I in November 2022, will be given a chance to present themselves a case for T20 World Cup selection, for which the time is limited – three T20Is against Afghanistan in January and potentially, the first half of IPL 2024.

The year 2024 will also present a chance for the India women’s cricket team to have silverware in its cupboard.

Significantly, 2023 was a great year for women’s cricket in India – winning the inaugural U19 Women’s T20 World Cup, a successful start to the Women’s Premier League (WPL), a historic gold medal in Asian Games (the men’s team also did it) and Test victories over England and Australia at home.

The year also saw them reach the semi-finals of Women’s T20 World Cup, only to face a narrow five-run loss to eventual champions Australia. But with the way new head coach Amol Muzumdar and captain Harmanpreet Kaur have combined forces, 2024 can be the year where the senior women’s team can claim the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh.

WPL unearthed stars like Saika Ishaque and Shreyanka Patil, who are now in the national team, while Shubha Satheesh and Titas Sadhu gave a good account of themselves. Jemimah Rodrigues and Pooja Vastrakar, along with Deepti Sharma and Sneh Rana made decisive match-winning contributions.

With 2024 coming closer, the focus of both men’s and women’s teams will be on finalising their combinations, giving the desired role clarity and formulating strategies for ending the silverware drought in the shortest format.

In a year with two T20 World Cups up for grabs, it is hard to predict if India can go all the way, especially with the format being unpredictable. But one thing which unites Rohit and Harmanpreet will be the quest to complete the unfinished business of 2023 to make 2024 an unforgettable year for Indian cricket.