You can call it the recency effect, but I am going to start with Jasprit Bumrah polishing off Time Seifert, Mitchell Santner and Kyle Jamieson with that satisfying sound of timber in the Guwahati match and ending with figures of 3 for 17 in his 4 overs.
You can literally wake Bumrah up in the middle of the night and thrust a ball into his hands and he will break a wicket without breaking a sweat. I think the ploy of using him to “choke” the opposition upfront and then bring him on like a death eater in the final overs is an experiment that will work well for India in the ICC T20 World Cup.
The second one clearly was a “Skyfall” moment, one where Raipur witnessed the skipper shaking it up without stirring any confusion. A moment based on keeping the faith. Captain Suryakumar Yadav had done everything right without getting the runs in the bag. It was critical for the management to stay the course and deliver he did. At Raipur, he took time to settle down and then led from the front. It was important for India to have him among the runs, and this gives a lot of confidence to him and the team as we get to February 7.
AlwaysBraveHyperIntelligent Sharma is surely the best thing after sliced bread for the Indian squad. His 84 off 35 deliveries in Nagpur set the stage for the series and this will be a weapon that ensures that opposition teams will come in genuinely scared. In Guwahati he became the second fastest Indian to score 50 in the format.
And just when that was not enough, the series has thrown up a pint-sized dynamite called Ishan Kishan. When Ishan bats, mercy is off the menu. He is like the Terminator now saying, “I’m back”. His innings of 76 off 32 balls coming after India lost two early wickets was an amazing template in snatching away a match from the opposition with brute force.
Hardik Pandya is back in the thick of action. His quickfire 25 in Nagpur, three catches in Raipur and then that stunning Superman catch to dismiss Devon Convoy and give Harshit Rana his fifth scalp of the Kiwi opener means that India has now got a middle-order all-rounder who is pumped up.
The sixth moment from the series is not an individual but a concept. India needed to believe that it was not just up to Abhishek Sharma and the power play flourish. The fact that Surya, Ishan, Hardik and Rinku Singh — with that 40-odd innings in Nagpur without letting the momentum drop — means that the Indian corvette is now purring smooth and well oiled. The ease with which India polished off the 208 in 15.2 overs is illustrative of the efficacy of this team’s approach.
Dub-be or Not Du-be is the question I would like to spin next. Against spin Shivam Dube has turned out to be a monster and his bowling too has come good with some crucial breakthroughs. That should inspire a lot of confidence for the captain and the management.
Varun Chakravarthy had his chakra of mystery is spinning! The man is in the form of his life and oppositions batters don’t face him; they enter his maze. That is such a great sign of things to come in the World Cup.
Amidst the blaze of boundaries and wickets, we forget that India’s catching and fielding in the series gives it a veritable 12th fielder. This is peaking at the perfect time for the reigning champions.
One last moment to end the piece and this is playing with biblical fire. The judgement of Solomon, selection of Samson moment. It is now almost clear that with Ishan and Abhishek opening, Tilak Varma comes in at No. 3 and this is a team that has now selected itself on the basis of this series.
Bring on the contest is what Team India will say at the end of this series. Ten moments; one truth — the story is just starting folks!
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