Sunil Gavaskar: Will take a really bad day at the office for this Indian team to be defeated
India will be looking to complete a clean sweep of the T20 series against New Zealand and, in doing so, send a message to the rest of the cricketing world that they are more than ready to defend the ICC World Cup they won in 2024. It is not just the wins, but the manner of those wins, that will be making the coaches and think tanks of other teams scratch their heads over how to stop what looks like a juggernaut.
Of course, in this ultra-short format of the game, one good over in either innings can turn a match on its head, so nothing is guaranteed. But the Indian team is playing some incredible cricket, and it will take a really bad day at the office for them to be defeated.
The comprehensive win in Guwahati showed just why this team is to be feared. It was as complete a performance as one could hope to see. The bowling was outstanding and the catching superb, with former captain Hardik Pandya leading the way with a catch that set the standard for the rest of the day. The ground fielding, the throwing and the backing up were all champion-class. Then came the chase and, despite losing Sanju Samson to the first ball of the innings, the left-handed duo of Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan counter-attacked in a manner that was simply awesome. Awesome because even good deliveries were being dispatched to and over the boundary. In such a scenario, the bowler is left clueless about what line and length to bowl, and the Guwahati Stadium boundaries were not short either.
Skipper Suryakumar Yadav got a classy half-century in the previous game, and he continued in that vein, showing that the ball is now meeting the middle of the bat more regularly and going exactly where he is aiming.
He is an instinctive skipper, and his calm demeanour eases the players’ thought processes as they are encouraged to play the way they know best. As a captain, it is relatively easy to set fields for good deliveries, but SKY seems to have the knack of setting fields for bad deliveries too, for the catchers in the deep hardly had to move to get to the ball.
As always in recent World Cups, India and Pakistan are not only placed in the same group to ensure at least one clash between the traditional rivals, but are also invariably put in a fairly easy group to qualify for the next round. So the real battle could well start from the following stage of the tournament. Of course, as said earlier, this format is one in which unfancied teams need just one good over in each innings to turn a game around. We saw the USA beat Pakistan in the last edition of the ICC T20 World Cup when they were co-hosts with the West Indies. They have since improved with experience and by rubbing shoulders with some of the best players in the world in Major League Cricket. The best part of these leagues is that they help to get rid of the awe factor that players from emerging countries often feel towards some of the big names in the game. Sharing dressing rooms with them, seeing how they prepare, and how they deal with failure are things that cannot be taught in any university. That first-hand experience is what helps to drive their individual games forward.
India, the defending champions, are looking to repeat history by becoming the first team to defend a T20 World Cup title. It is not going to be easy at all, with teams like Australia and South Africa having just completed their own domestic T20 tournaments. Their players are match-trim, as are those from other countries who participated in these leagues.
It promises to be a nail-biter of a tournament. Then again, wasn’t the standard set way back in the first ICC T20 World Cup in 2007, when India beat Pakistan in the final off the last over?
Published on Jan 26, 2026
