Lost opportunity? Team India chases T20I glory despite IPL advantage

New Delhi, Aug 6 (SocialNews.XYZ) Down and out in the 2007 ODI World Cup, Indian cricket took a rebirth in the same year when skipper MS Dhoni-led side clinched the inaugural T20I World Cup beating Pakistan in the final as fans across the country witnessed a mouth-watering clash.

Following India's win, the format became so popular that the BCCI decided to cash in on the craze and launched the Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2008. Ever since the first IPL, the cash-rich league has achieved numerous heights in viewership and has become a breeding ground for talented players with each passing year.

Yuzvendra Chahal, Hardik Pandya, Shardul Thakur, and Jasprit Bumrah are just some of the names who made it big after getting recognized widely in the IPL.

While the shortest format of the game gave India everything it could have asked for, the Men in Blue have remained elusive in securing the World Cup title despite their efforts.

Every year there are players who make their mark in the IPL with some exceptional performances. With the total number of teams increasing to 10, the greatness of the League to produce some quality cricket just grew manifolds.

Be it Rinku Singh's 5 sixes in 5 balls or Tilak Varma's heroics in IPL, the pool of talent has just widened with each passing year. However, when the best of the lot reunites to form Team India, the cumulative effect doesn't seem to bring the desired result.

Former Indian opener Virender Sehwag while reminiscing about the inaugural IPL, said the tournament provided a sense of security to the players which is usually not given to a player when playing for the country.

"At first I thought this was a tournament in which there was no pressure on you as a player. You had no fear that you will be out of the playing XI. Because when you play for an Indian team you have to be amongst the runs to get your spot secured," Sehwag said on the sidelines of the 'Pitchside - My Life in Indian Cricket' book launch on Wednesday.

"In the IPL, I knew no one could drop me since I was the captain in 2008. And also because no one at that time knew how good someone's performance should be. Because sometimes a 5-ball 20 overshadowed a century.

"I had played county in 2003 in the T20 format and I always felt that the shortest format came very late in India. The only fun part of IPL was that you were allowed to express yourself, and every new player used to get a chance in the team. So IPL had that charm," he added.

On Thursday, India lost the first T20I against the West Indies by 4 runs. One can argue that Team was without its key players -- Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. But if you look at the bigger picture and the next few World Cups in mind, there will be no Kohli or Rohit at least in the T20Is.

So to have a robust system for selection and a T20 tournament that yields world-class players every year and then to lose games internationally is one of the questions that no one dares to ask the stakeholders of the game.

For now, to improve India's performance in the T20I the first thing the management can do is give a longer rope to players to prove themselves in the format and stick with them without much chopping or changing.

India's tryst with T20 glory is what every fan is now waiting for.

Source: IANS