Left-right combination key to India’s march to success

Left-right batters in tandem from the top to No. 8 has helped improve strike rate for the top order

- Somshuvra Laha

In the 2016 T20 World Cup semifinal against West Indies, four Indians batted, none of them left-handed. In the 2022 semifinal, there was only one—Rishabh Pant—among seven. In the 2024 final, that number had risen to a significant four out of eight, but only in tandem from No. 3 because openers Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were right-handers. Now we have left-right batters in tandem from the top to No. 8 with the brief to not hold back.

The results have been staggering but most definitive is how India’s strike rate for the top seven has climbed over the years. It was 140.01 between the 2016 and 2022 T20 World Cups, 144.55 till the 2024 edition and 157.97 since then. The foremost reason behind this uptick is the level of T20 specialisation the current setup has. Not just Abhishek Sharma up front but also Tilak Varma and Shivam Dube, all of them made into finished products by IPL where they have pulled off specific jobs ona regular basis without having to worry about other format.