The inaugural T20 World Cup winners are once again gearing up for the T20 World Cup 2024. There is no question that the Indian team have faced struggles at ICC events. As since 2013, India has struggled to get their hands on the silverware. When it comes to the T20 World Cup, India have clinched the T20 World Cup trophy just once to date.
However, looking at the current 15-member squad, it seems like things can turn around, as it resembles the 2007 T20 India squad. Although it’s not fair to compare both squads. As every player has their own capabilities, but there is a few resemblance in the squad. Take a look at the three similarities which India have in their current T20 World Cup squad from the 2007 team.
2007 and 2024 India’s T20 World Cup Squad
2007 SquadAge2024 SquadAgeMS Dhoni (c)26y Rohit Sharma (c)37yGautam Gambhir25y Yashasvi Jaiswal22y Virender Sehwag28y Virat Kohli35y Robin Uthappa21y Sanju Samson29y Yuvraj Singh
(vc)25y Rishabh Pant26yDinesh Karthik22y Suryakumar Yadav33y Rohit Sharma20y Hardik Pandya30y Piyush Chawla18y Shivam Dube30y Joginder Sharma23yRavindra Jadeja35y Yusuf Pathan23y Axar Patel30y Irfan Pathan24y Arshdeep Singh25y Ajit Agarkar22yJasprit Bumrah30y Harbhajan Singh29y Yuzvendra Chahal33y RP Singh27y Mohammed Siraj30y S.Sreesanth24y Kuldeep Yadav29y
What similarities can we find in both squads?
Fast bowling all-rounder options
Since it is impossible to find exact likenesses between both squads, as every player has their own capabilities, we can still identify a few similarities. In 2007, India had a few fast-bowling all-rounders, such as Irfan Pathan and Ajit Agarkar, who performed wonders in the inaugural T20 World Cup. This year, we also have fast-bowling all-rounders like Shivam Dube and Hardik Pandya.
Strong spin attack like in 2007
Also, in that edition, India went with the full-spin options. Even this time, the Indian team has a similar approach, as the 2024 team has players like Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, and Kuldeep Yadav, whose roles are going to be important in the USA and West Indies. Apart from this combination.
Numerous left-handed batting options
Speaking about batting in the last few editions, India was seen lacking left-handed batters. However, now things seem to be sorted out as the Men in Blue have many lefties on the team. Similar to the 2007 team, where they had left-handers in the top order like Gautam Gambhir. And the middle order was packed with players like Yuvraj Singh and Irfan Pathan.
This time for the upcoming World Cup, we also have players like Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant, Shivam Dube, and then Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja. These players can provide India with a variety of batting combinations with this trait.
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