The task for the rest of the world is to make up the sizeable gap India have built at the top of the T20 game.<\/p>\n
On the face of it, the three-time champions, the first men’s side to defend the T20 crown and the first to win it on home soil, look to have everything going their way.<\/p>\n
A young team, talent groomed in the IPL and the benefits of the funds that tournament provides, all while taking home a greater share of the international game’s revenue than anyone else.<\/p>\n
The win in the T20 World Cup in 2024 ended a 13-year wait for a title and has provided unerring confidence.<\/p>\n
India have only lost two of 34 matches at the past four global white-ball events. Catching them will be no easy task.<\/p>\n
But, as good as they have been here over the past two weeks, the rest have to look to the tighter moments in this tournament.<\/p>\n
West Indies dropped two catches in their defeat by India. Harry Brook put down Sansom in the semi-final. Things could have been different, or at least that has to be the hope.<\/p>\n
The run of world events across the past three years has fallen kindly for India.<\/p>\n
It began with the 2023 tournament on home soil, which they should have won, before more slow pitches in the Caribbean in 2024.<\/p>\n
After that came the Champions Trophy where all of their matches were held in Dubai, and then this event hosted at home and Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n
Cricket’s calendar now turns away from the subcontinent, with the next 50-over World Cup to be played across Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa in 2027. Pitches there will offer pace and bounce.<\/p>\n
After that, Australia and New Zealand host the 2028 T20 World Cup, where fast bowlers will again be key.<\/p>\n
More depth behind Bumrah will have to be found, while recent struggles in Test cricket – India have lost at home to South Africa and New Zealand in the past two years – will require some focus.<\/p>\n
In between those next two World Cups will be the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028, played in the T20 format. It is an event already on players’ minds.<\/p>\n
“Definitely the next goal is Olympic gold and the next T20 World Cup,” said Suryakumar.<\/p>\n
“Since 2024, the way we have played, we have won three ICC trophies in a row and we have not looked back.<\/p>\n
“We want to continue doing that in 2027, 2028, 2029 and never stop.”<\/p>\n
The rest of the world have been warned.<\/p>\n
It is up to someone to catch India. That is something the game needs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The task for the rest of the world is to make up the sizeable gap India have built…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":466958,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[1721,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-466957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-cricket","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=466957"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466957\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/466958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=466957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=466957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=466957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}