As Rishabh Pant went across the crease and scooped Ireland’s Barry McCarthy out of the ropes to register an eight-wicket win on Wednesday (Jun 5) in its first match of the 2024 T20 World Cup, one thing became clear: India aren’t as bad as many thought for many weeks leading up to the tournament.

When the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) released the squad for the tourney in the USA and the West Indies, it felt like India were stomping on an axe. The team looked dull. Not one member of the first 15 reached the IPL 2024 final, which seemed symbolic of the team being behind the needs of the hard-hitting, defensive-bowling T20 era.

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Pant was in the middle of it. A batter with a T20I average of 22.43 and a strike rate of 126.38 was reportedly the first-choice wicketkeeper over Sanju Samson, the captain of Rajasthan Royals, who had just had his best-ever season in the IPL with a strike rate of 153.47.

To be clear, that concern, along with the worry about the seemingly conservative selections (like Rohit Sharma, who doesn’t have the T20 numbers to back him) and the exclusion of Rinku Singh were not wrong. They made complete sense at the time and still do.

However, from the evidence of the conditions we have seen so far in both host countries, the squad doesn’t look as out of place as it would have been otherwise.

Both Pant and Rohit like to take their time at the start of the innings. It wasn’t possible during IPL 2024 because on tracks as flat as those in Hyderabad and Bengaluru, wasting deliveries to understand the bounce meant pulling your team behind. In the US, with uneven bounce and turn, and in the West Indies, with slow turn and low bounce, taking time is excusable.

Here, it’s important for the set batters to take responsibility and finish the game because unlike in the IPL, wickets can quickly fall in the middle overs when the ball gets old.

“It’s going back to the old T20, with someone needed to bat through [the innings],” Australian captain Mitchell Marsh said on Thursday after his side recovered from 50/3 against Oman to win the game by 39 runs in Barbados.

This “old T20” suits India well. Apart from Pant and Rohit, Virat Kohli at the top can always drop into the anchor role, despite leveling up his big-hitting game in IPL 2024.

The finishing concerns about Ravindra Jadeja and Hardik Pandya can also rest as their weakness — hard-length at pace — seems to be slightly less effective on the slowish tracks. The abundance of spin throughout the tournament will also favour the move to bring Shivam Dube (who strikes at 158.80 against spin in the IPL since 2022) over Rinku (110.65).

Finally, India’s bowling attack, which initially seemed over-dependent on Jasprit Bumrah, looks much better. Arshdeep Singh and Mohammed Siraj, who struggled on flat tracks in India, are enjoying the seam movement available in the US while Jadeja and Axar Patel’s Test-match style bowling is much more difficult to get away here than in India.

A bit like how Australia performed better than India in the 2023 World Cup final thanks to the helpful pitch, despite being a weaker team on paper, the Men in Blue can get the best out of their playing 11 to beat stronger, more balanced opponents with the help of the conditions.

It might be a well-thought-out move from the selectors or just a happy coincidence — and a bigger test awaits against Pakistan on June 9 still — but so far, it’s working and India is thriving.

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