While watching the cricket ball being ill-treated with such consistency in the IPL we could forget that cricket is meant to be a form of conversation. It would be a pity if one side stopped speaking. A total of 300 seems to be just around the corner, with nearly every side capable of that score.

As often happens in sport, once a barrier is broken by one performer, others quickly follow. It took just 46 days for Roger Bannister’s first sub-four minute mile record to be broken.

Mumbai Indians skipper Hardik Pandya won the toss and opted to field against Royal Challengers Bengaluru in an Indian Premier League match on Sunday (April 12, 2026).

MI made two changes to their playing XI, bringing in Mitchell Santner and Mayank Markande in place of AM Ghazanfar and Deepak Chahar.

The notion of balance between bat and ball in a T20 contest is like logic in a Bollywood potboiler. It simply isn’t there.

Particularly on flat pitches and small grounds, ubiquitous as they are in this part of the world, a T20 game turning into a six-hitting duel can be a run-of-the-mill occurrence. It is more a reflection of the reality than a condemnation of the shortest format, for it would be disingenuous to expect equilibrium between bat and ball from a genre that was designed to feed the onlookers’ ostensible thirst for fours and sixes from its very inception in 2003.

India opener Sanju Samson and pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah were on Monday (April 6, 2026) named among the nominees for the ICC Player of the Month award for March following their success at the T20 World Cup.

South Africa batter Connor Esterhuizen completes the shortlist following an outstanding debut T20I series in New Zealand that saw one of the best statistics after five games by anyone from his country.

Samson’s sizzling form towards the end of the T20 World Cup, which earned him the player of the Tournament award, puts him in the fray alongside Bumrah, who was adjudged the player of the match in the final.

Samson did not get to play in the early part of the tournament but was the standout performer in the big games and helped India retain the title.

He struck 97 not out against the West Indies in what was a virtual quarter-final in Kolkata and followed it with knocks of 89 in the semi-final against England in Mumbai and the final against New Zealand in Ahmedabad.

In the same set of matches, Bumrah grabbed seven wickets at an average of 12.00 and an economy rate of 7.00.

He picked up three wickets in the two matches against the West Indies and England and then produced match-winning figures of four for 15 in four overs against New Zealand in the final.

Esterhuizen scored 200 runs at an average of 50 and a strike-rate of 145.98, helping complete a 3-2 win in New Zealand.

Named player of the series, he reached 551 rating points in the T20I batting rankings, the second highest after five matches by a South Africa player. Esterhuizen reached 39th in the rankings, the fourth-best by any South African after five matches.

History warns us of the paradox of choice and we are often reminded that an overabundance of excellent options is its own kind of prison. The task of choosing six batters and as many bowlers from the embarrassment of riches available in IPL 2026 proved a daunting task.

Statistical stalemates were inevitable in a landscape full of world-beaters, which meant that the final 12-member list was driven by sixth sense.

Sanju Samson (CSK): The elegance with which he wields the bat has made him a perennial favourite for the ‘People’s Choice Award’. The 31-year-old artist, who delivered a masterpiece at the ICC T20 World Cup and won the Lead Actor honours, is primed to extend his purple patch in Chennai’s Yellow.

Yashasvi Jaiswal (RR): The dashing southpaw has the X-factor to edge ahead in the overcrowded race for a national call-up and a Royal show in the IPL could well trigger it for the 24-year-old batter.

Virat Kohli (RCB): The only batter to score more than 2,000 runs (2,037 runs at an average of 56.58 and strike-rate of 146.54) since the start of IPL 2023, the 37-year-old maestro has not slowed down one bit though T20 batting has gathered pace over the years. Royal Challengers can be upbeat knowing that The King will lead the charge in defending the crown.

Nicholas Pooran (LSG): Since the start of 2024, the Caribbean T20 specialist has smashed 4,671 runs (158 innings at a strike-rate of 155.18) in T20s. The next best (James Vince’s 3,801) puts things in perspective on why the explosive left-hander is one of the most sought-after commodities in franchise cricket.

Travis Head (SRH): Mr. Destruction strikes at a blistering 170.03 in the IPL. With 834 of his 1,146 runs coming through boundaries (126×4, 55×6), a 30-minute dose of the 32-year-old Australian’s fifth-gear batting will be enough to put Sunrisers in the driver’s seat.

Shimron Hetmyer (RR): The confidence gained from acing the No. 3 role in West Indies colours during the T20 World Cup (248 runs at a strike-rate of 186.47) should help him regain his mojo after a couple of quiet IPL seasons.

Jasprit Bumrah (MI): The peerless India pacer’s selection was the most, and perhaps the only, easy one as he is the world’s best bowler by a country mile.

Varun Chakaravarthy (KKR): Though the unorthodox spinner finished as the joint top wicket-taker (14) in the T20 World Cup, his economy rate took a beating (9.25 runs per over). He has enough weapons in his arsenal to make a turnaround.

Yuzvendra Chahal (PBKS): He is the most prolific bowler in the league’s history (221 wickets). With 174 IPL caps, the veteran leg-spinner has the numbers and guile to throw his hat in the ring for an India call-up again.

Rashid Khan (GT): The spell the Afghan cast over the willow-wielders in the IPL has begun to fade. The leg-spinner had a higher-than-usual economy of 8.93 over the last two seasons and only 19 wickets in 27 matches during that period. But, he has the wherewithal to set the record straight.

Trent Boult (MI): The Kiwi left-arm pacer has the premium quality of scalping wickets in the PowerPlay. With 72 of his 143 victims coming in the first six overs, Boult is the second-most lethal IPL bowler in the PowerPlay (only behind Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 80 wickets).

Lungi Ngidi (DC): He may not even get to feature in all matches if pace ace Mitchell Starc receives his NOC from Cricket Australia. However, the control and accuracy with which he dished out his loopy slower balls and yorkers against India in the T20 World Cup should be proof enough that he is more than just a back-up option.

Jasprit Bumrah, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan and Hardik Pandya were the four Indians named in the ICC’s Team of 2026 T20 World Cup after their team coasted to a record third title.

Player of the Tournament Samson leads the winning quartet, after the opener’s 321 runs from just five innings.

Samson started the tournament outside of the Indian playing eleven but shone bright with Player of the Match performances against the West Indies and England before making the highest individual score in a Men’s T20 World Cup final with 89 against New Zealand on Sunday (March 8, 2026).

Kishan hit 317 runs – the fourth most of any player – as his performances across the top of the order anchored India’s batting performances with a huge strike rate of 193.29.

He produced a masterful 77 as an opener against Pakistan before adjusting to number three with important knocks against England and New Zealand, including a half-century in the final.

Pandya is the third Indian batter included, with the all-rounder recognised for his contribution with bat and ball. He scored two half-centuries with the bat and produced devastating spells when it mattered, including 52 off 28 against Namibia, while he also took nine wickets in all.

Bumrah is the fourth Indian player in the team, with the Player of the Match in the final recognised for his excellent bowling performances.

Bumrah finished as the tournament’s joint-leading wicket taker, with 14 from eight matches. He finished with figures of four for 15 in the final and posted an economy of 6.21 throughout the tournament.

The top of the order also includes Pakistan’s Sahibzada Farhan, who finished as the tournament’s top run-scorer with an aggregate of 383. That came at an average of 76.60 and was headlined by a pair of centuries, against Sri Lanka and Namibia.

ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 Team of the Tournament: 1. Sahibzada Farhan 2. Sanju Samson (wicketkeeper) 3. Ishan Kishan 4. Aiden Markram (captain) 5. Hardik Pandya 6. Will Jacks 7. Jason Holder 8. Jasprit Bumrah 9. Lungi Ngidi 10. Adil Rashid 11. Blessing Muzarabani 12th player: Shadley van Schalkwyk.

In over half a century of obsessing over cricket, dreaming of it, playing it, watching it, writing about it, travelling for it, I have seen only two Indian bowlers who, every time they had the ball in hand, changed the texture of the competition. The stadium quivered in anticipation of a wicket. Sometimes, a rhythmic chant accompanied the run-up, bursting into crescendo at the final leap. Those watching on television sat up, shoulders squared, ready to shine in reflected glory.

The bowlers with that aura are Jasprit Bumrah and Bhagwat Chandrasekhar. Bumrah bowls few rank bad deliveries; leg spinner Chandrasekhar did sometimes. But each could bowl what some consider a mythical delivery: the unplayable ball.

Having said that, we must ask ourselves if there is such a thing as an unplayable ball, which by definition is successful one hundred percent of the time. For success depends on the player (what is unplayable to Mohammed Siraj may not be so to Sanju Samson), the context of the game, and the batter’s luck. Bowlers sometimes have the mortification of seeing their best deliveries being edged to the boundary. The unplayable ball defeats not just technique but anticipation. We judge the effort by the effect.

As the philosopher and cricket fanatic George Cox has suggested, in play the ball as an object disappears; it becomes a collection of possibilities and potentials for achieving desired outcomes. It becomes a bundle of intentions, a collection of meanings.

Batters react in one of two ways after being dismissed. Some, unwilling to acknowledge bowler skill, say it was their own mistake that caused it. The mythology of batting depends on control. Others, not wanting to be seen as technically inadequate, say they were done in by an unplayable ball.

Master at work

At the T20 World Cup, Bumrah’s range of slower deliveries showed a master at work. The slow yorker hit the stumps with amazing precision. Three New Zealand batters found it unplayable in the final. The fourth played too early and was caught brilliantly. For doing consistently what seems impossible to others while making his unusual action work for him, Bumrah has been called a genius. That, and a high percentage of ‘unplayable’ balls.

For so long have we seen Bumrah do this nonchalantly that we take it for granted; worse, we berate him for a rare off day. Luckily for Indian cricket, he has fewer of them than most.

Nobody quite figured out Chandra. The greatest batter of his time, Viv Richards confessed the bowler gave him nightmares. The whirring polio-withered right arm brushed against the ear as it delivered the ball at its height. Batters uncertain of where to meet it did so with a prayer. Chandra held the ball like a medium-pacer, on the smooth side along the seam, not across it like orthodox spinners do.

T20 World Cup: India glorious

Two is enough!

A modest man with acute self-awareness, he said that so long as there was a slip and a short leg, it didn’t matter where the others fielded. “If I am bowling well, I need just those two fielders, if I am bowling badly, 22 fielders will not be enough,” he once said.

Bumrah, equally unorthodox, with an arm so straight it seemed to bend backwards, delivers the ball seemingly in front with a remarkable wrist action. As with Chandra, there is no ‘tell’ for the batter, no obvious change in approach or angle relative to the bowling crease. From roughly the same number of steps, each could deliver a ball to rival the fastest. It is magical, carrying the magic of the improbable.

It is to the credit of their coaches that both were allowed to progress untouched by strained orthodoxy. Cricket is a broad church. The unorthodox remind us not to take the coaching manual too seriously.

Short-format cricket was not as sophisticated in Chandra’s time, the focus being on denying runs rather than taking wickets. Consequently he played just a single one-day international. Bumrah, who began as a white ball specialist, might well be the greatest fast bowler to have played the game.

Both had another thing in common — a ready smile and a gentle manner. It has been a privilege to live in an era which has seen these two giants in action.

In the 2012-13 series against England, when skipper M.S. Dhoni asked for a turning track at Eden Gardens, the curator Prabhir Mukherjee told him this was “immoral.” Coach Gautam Gambhir’s instructions, however, were taken on board by Mukherjee’s successor, but India lost again, making it four in six at home.

Visiting spinners claiming more wickets than Indians on home tracks is not a recent phenomenon. India lost to Australia in 1969-70 despite fielding the great spinners Erapalli Prasanna (26 wickets), Bishan Bedi (21), and S. Venkatraghavan and better batters against spin in the line-up. Ashley Mallett (28) and John Glesson (10) were the successful spinners while medium pacers Graham McKenzie and Alan Connolly had 38 wickets between them.

“Better batters against spin” turned out to be an exaggeration then, as it appears to be now. The Indian spinners kept telling their batters, as Bedi often reminded us, “Please give us at least 250 runs to bowl at.”

Challenging the home team

In the last century, home tracks often challenged the home team. Richie Benaud (23 wickets to Vinoo Mankad’s 11 and Subhash Gupte’s 12) in 1956 (Australia won 2-0), Derek Underwood (29 to Bedi’s 25) in 1975-76 as England won 3-1 are other examples. Just over a decade ago, England won a series in India after 28 years thanks to Graeme Swann (20 wickets) and Monty Panesar (17). By themselves these statistics may not tell the whole story, but together they point to a pattern, perhaps suggesting the adage about spin in India might not necessarily be true.

It is also useful to remember that just as India’s game against pace and swing while playing abroad has improved well enough to win them series in Australia and England, the preparation against spin by visiting teams has seen a sea-change too.

Gambhir might have, by his own admission, got the wicket he wanted in Kolkata, but you have to be careful what you wish for. If two spinners cannot do the job, there is little point in picking four, at least one of whom is bound to be under-bowled, and only one can be classed a genuine Test all-rounder.

So where did India lose the Test? When they were dismissed for 189 in the first innings? When they collapsed in the second? On the third morning, India took their foot off the pedal, allowing South Africa to score 60 runs. Some of their intensity was gone. India seemed to feel it was only a matter of time, as if their win was pre-ordained and South Africa’s batters would merely have to play out the roles allotted to them.

Missing a trick

This is a dangerous attitude in Test cricket. Things don’t just happen, you have to go out and make them happen. Rishabh Pant, normally a proactive captain might have delayed bringing on Jasprit Bumrah. You start the day’s play with your best bowler; especially against the bottom half of the batting. That is woven into the fabric of strategy.

Gambhir may have been right when he said that the 124 to win was gettable. Clearly he didn’t explain how and why well enough to his batters. South Africa were superb, India choked.

Temba Bavuma didn’t get to lead his team to ten wins in 11 matches by hanging around and allowing things to happen. He made things happen. His captaincy is a lesson for both Pant and Gill, the latter forced to watch from his hospital bed (if at all). Quietly, professionally, Bavuma went about his business. He should have been Player-of-the-Match as much for his captaincy as for his batting. In Marco Jansen and off-spinner Simon Harmer he had men for the job. Their self-belief was evident.

Indian batters tend to look down upon off spin, viewing it as fodder in any format. Perhaps that’s why Washington Sundar was given just one over on a helpful track.

India were once seen as tigers at home, but lambs abroad. The turnaround has been startling. If Gambhir is beginning to feel insecure, he has time enough to look afresh at the team’s attitude. It ain’t over till the fat lady sings is a cliché in sport for a good reason.

When India skipper Suryakumar Yadav won the toss and opted to bat against Oman in a Group-A fixture of the Asia Cup on Friday (September 19, 2025), a ripple of excitement reverberated around the Zayed Cricket Stadium. After India restricted the opposition to meagre totals on the way to comfortable wins in the first two games, the expectation among the spectators in blue was for Suryakumar’s men to now flex their firepower with the willow and notch up another big victory.

India won by 21 runs to maintain its perfect record going into the Super Four stage, but it wasn’t without anxious moments as the men from the Middle East showed ample resistance in the final game of the preliminary phase.

Impressive reply

Chasing 189, Oman’s Aamir Kaleem and Hammad Mirza impressed with their application. While the 43-year-old Kaleem hit a 46-ball 64, Mirza’s brisk 51 took 33 deliveries.

An opening stand of 56 between Kaleem and Jatinder Singh came at a steady pace, but it was with Mirza’s arrival that Oman’s pursuit gathered some momentum.

The duo put together 93 runs for the second wicket.

Looking ahead, India will hope Axar Patel’s injury is not serious. In the 15th over of the chase, the all-rounder was back-pedalling from mid-off in an attempt to catch Mirza when he hit the ground and hurt his head. He didn’t return to the field thereafter.

The changes

That India was in the mood for experimentation in this dead rubber was evident from the outset. Jasprit Bumrah and Varun Chakaravarthy were rested in order to give game time to Arshdeep Singh and Harshit Rana. Suryakumar chose to go unused at No. 11 in India’s total of 188 for eight.

For the eight-time continental champion, Sanju Samson top-scored at No. 3 with 56, but he would readily admit this wasn’t one of his more fluent efforts. He didn’t manage to hit top gear at any stage of his knock.

After Shubman Gill’s early dismissal, Abhishek Sharma (38, 15b, 5×4, 2×6) stamped his presence on proceedings.

With Oman daring to give left-arm spinner Shakeel Ahmed a second over in the PowerPlay with the southpaw on strike, the 25-year-old from Punjab took toll with two fours and a six.

If Samson was rusty at the other end after not batting in India’s first two fixtures, it showed. His first 11 deliveries yielded just nine runs despite a wristy flick for six to an overpitched ball from Shah Faisal. Abhishek persisted with his onslaught, punishing Mohammad Nadeem’s medium-pace for 19 runs in the fifth over.

Double blow

A hiccup in the eighth over saw India lose Abhishek and Hardik Pandya in the space of three balls. While Abhishek chased a very wide ball from Jiten Ramanandi only to nick it to the wicketkeeper, Hardik, promoted to No. 4, was run out when Samson’s shot flicked the bowler’s hand on the way and hit the stumps at the non-striker’s end.

Samson and Axar got India back on track with a 45-run alliance off 23 deliveries. The latter raced to 26 before inside-edging Kaleem to Vinayak Shukla behind the wicket.

Tilak Varma, held back till the fall of the fifth wicket, chipped in with an 18-ball 29.

The selection of Shubman Gill for the Asia Cup might be debatable. Not because he is not good enough, but because the Test series against the West Indies commences three days after the final there. He will soon be an all-format captain.

T20 has evolved quickly thanks to the domestic franchises, and what, in another field, would be called continuous research. T20 progresses in a different culture altogether. Not surprisingly, the all-format player is becoming a rarity; impactful T20 players are not necessarily automatic selections for Tests, and vice versa.

Hence the obvious question: what is India’s best all-format team? India played (and won) their first-ever T20I in 2006, against South Africa, who like them, fielded a Test team. India’s game-altering World Cup win was a few months away. The IPL was in the future. The data-crunchers hadn’t yet got into their act, and it was all seen as a bit of a hit-and-giggle affair.

Any all-format team would have to be picked from players who actually took part in a T20I, which means the Kapil Devs, and Mohammad Azharuddins who might have been automatic selections won’t make it. Admittedly, this is a fantasy team, and there is an argument for including such players on the basis of what they have accomplished in other formats, but we need to draw a line somewhere. So no Kapil, Salim Durrani or Anil Kumble (although he did play for RCB in the IPL). The inevitable arguments can begin right here!

Great opening pair

Sachin Tendulkar played that inaugural match. He made only 10 runs, but considering he ended up with another 34,347 runs in all formats combined, with a hundred centuries and 201 wickets, it will be difficult to keep him out (not that one needs to).

He opens, therefore, with Rohit Sharma, who has more runs here than anyone else, and a strike rate of 141. Gill walks in at No. 3, secure in the knowledge that everything doesn’t depend on him, and he is free to play his natural game. For following him in the order is Virat Kohli, who at one time, averaged over 50 in each of the formats, and finished with nearly 49 in T20 and a strike rate of 137.

As the format evolves further, it is likely that the top half of the batting is expected to have a strike rate above 170 or so. Often a six-ball 20 might be more valuable in the cause than a 10-ball 18, avoiding dot balls more productive. There are theoreticians and experimenters in every team, the ideologues who decide the culture. Winning is everything, but knowing how to win is crucial.

At No. 5, do we pick Suresh Raina for his left-handedness or K.L. Rahul for his ability to make a difference regardless of format, or Rishabh Pant whose best may yet be ahead of him? Rahul and Pant are established Test men, which except briefly, Raina never was. So Raina misses out.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni to follow them gives the team an important match-winner in the lower half, a wicketkeeper and captain all in one. Dhoni has been one of the finest captains in the format, with the gift of doing the unexpected as he showed in his World Cup decision while handing the ball to Joginder Sharma and changed the face of international cricket.

Providing depth

Dhoni’s CSK teammate Ravindra Jadeja follows, ensuring batting depth and a crucial spinner. At nine would be Bhuvneshwar Kumar (who once had figures of five for four in an international), to be followed by the great Jasprit Bumrah, the figure likely to be in an all-time eleven in all formats taken either separately or collectively.

To clarify, some of the players above might not be in an all-time Test XI or in an all-time ODI XI. One of India’s most successful bowlers in the format, Yuzvendra Chahal completes the line-up.

The fun of choosing all-time XIs lies in the fact that with time, some players drop out as cricket changes and those who adapt better get more successful. It is the nature of sport. Five years on, it will be surprising if half our team above retain their places.