3 ICC finals in 12 months: Will India, the best all-format team, be third time lucky in T20 World Cup 2024?

Saturday will mark India’s third appearance in the final of an ICC event in less than 13 months. Each has come in a different format.

In June last year, India played, and lost, the final of the World Test Championship to Australia at The Oval. Five months later, they were conquered by the Aussies, again, in the 50-over World Cup title clash in Ahmedabad. They have a great chance to put those bitter disappointments behind them when they lock horns with first-time finalists South Africa at the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown on Saturday morning, looking to double their tally of T20 World Cup crowns.

The WTC is a slow burn, played over a two-year cycle – three series at home, three away – that examines consistency and depth as much as anything else. India have been in both WTC finals so far, testimony to their ability to be competitive in all conditions and dominate unquestioned on home patch.

The two limited-overs World Cups are a different cup of tea altogether. They require immediate adaptability and smarts because each opponent is different, each poses a different kind of challenge. Not too much credit has been given for India’s unchallenged march to the final of the ODI World Cup last October-November because it came at home. The advantage of playing in one’s backyard and therefore the familiarity with conditions is offset by the massive wave of expectations that meets the players everywhere they go. From the room service waiter to the team bus driver and the aircraft attendant to the security personnel at airports, everyone wants them to ‘win it’, everyone chips in with wishes. It can be overwhelming, decisively so.

Until they ran into a tartar in Pat Cummins’ men in Ahmedabad, India not just won everything before them, they did so convincingly, playing an exhilaratingly attacking brand of cricket. True, they came out second best in the game that mattered the most, but even Indian fans who historically frown at anything another than victory extended a supporting hand of empathy in potentially the darkest moment of Rohit Sharma’s cricketing life. That alone speaks to how much the team had touched the fans, how much it had entertained and delighted on its way to the title round.

India’s march in this T20 World Cup hasn’t been any less intimidating. In seven matches, they have been gathering steam like an unmanned train rolling downhill. But this is no wild, careening juggernaut. India are ticking over like a well-oiled machine, all bases covered, most parts performing their roles with aplomb.

Among the most vital ingredients for success in any sphere is role allocation and role clarity, allied with the comfort that if failure is a byproduct of trying to adhere to specified goals, it comes with the buffer of understanding and a comforting arm around the shoulder. Credit for that must go to the management combo of Rohit and head coach Rahul Dravid, in his last assignment in that capacity.

It is in the immediacy of India’s depressing ten-wicket loss to England at the last T20 World Cup in November 2022 that the genesis of their rejuvenated approach to white-ball cricket lies. Despite having paid lip-service to aggression and positivity, India were largely tame in Australia; the England hammering was a wake-up call, the clearest message yet that one can’t keep doing the same things and expect different results.

Rohit and Dravid resolved to tweak the style of play, to evoke a subtle shift in mindset, to get the squad to buy into the philosophy of being proactive and attacking. In that bid, they received support from all quarters – the seasoned, established old guard including Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja, the mid-level experienced group of Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav and Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel, and newcomers such as Shivam Dube, Rinku Singh and Arshdeep Singh. Once the team bought into the mantra of sustained attack and shed their big-stage limpidness, once the fear of failure was replaced by the exciting prospects of ultimate success, implementation of plans became a breeze.

At this World Cup, India have been muscular with the bat, incisive with the ball. When the strips have helped the pacers, Bumrah has expertly led the group. Once the tournament moved to the Caribbean and spin became a more potent threat, Kuldeep was pressed into service, like the plan always had been. The batting, led brilliantly by Rohit, has sussed the conditions superbly and resisted the temptation for overreach. The channels of communication have been open and buzzing. None of this guarantees a title on Saturday, but if that doesn’t happen, it won’t be for lack of planning or intent.