Young guns ready to step up with eyes on World T20

A largely young Indian side wrapped up the five-match T20 series against Australia 4-1 and there were plenty of promising displays

- Vivek Krishnan

Another bilateral series has yielded another victory for India. Whatever may be the reason for India not winning an ICC title since 2013, their consistency, which can only be gauged by how they perform in bilateral contests over a prolonged period, cannot be faulted.

The latest triumph-a 4-1 victory over Australia - saw neither team at full strength for a T20 series that began four days after the ODI World Cup final. With more than six months left for the T20 World Cup in the Caribbean and United States (June 4-30, 2024), much could change. The uncertain future of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in the shortest format are particularly pressing issues while IPL 2024 is also bound to throw up selection headaches with players getting into and going out of form.

These caveats aside, India's selectors have reasons to be encouraged with what they saw in the series victory.

Young batters shine

In Ruturaj Gaikwad, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rinku Singh, Ishan Kishan and Tilak Varma, India have a string of young batters ready for consistent opportunities. Whether they get them depends on the sort of balance the selectors strike between experience and exuberance. Gaikwad and Jaiswal excelled as an opening pair in the series, helping the hosts get off to quick starts on pitches suitable for stroke-making.