Should top teams start taking T20Is seriously?

[BreadPakoda]

If I’m not wrong there are two T20 WCs coming up and here we have the rank #2 and #3 teams disregarding the format again. No Bumrah, Shami, Starc, Rohit, Hazlewood, Cummins, Bhuvi, etc. I agree that some of them are injured but that makes it even more important to play the ones who aren’t.

Do you think the top teams are guilty of taking T20Is too lightly? Some of these players dutifully play international leagues including IPL yet skip T20Is.

 

[Ashmal]

With the all important test series up next...no one wants to take a chance with injuries.

The T20s should've been scheduled after tests.

 

[Thunderbolt14]

I reckon they’re taking it a bit for granted, and why wouldn’t they with the top quality players they all have.

But there’s one crucial component that might be missed as a result — team synergy and balance, which is important to develop in T20s. Pretty much every franchise coach agrees that you need at least a few weeks for team bonding if you want a successful tournament, and we generally see T20s as a format where momentum is really really important.

Right now, Pakistan and New Zealand seem to be the only two sides taking it seriously.

India, England, West Indies, Australia, South Africa aren’t really consistently playing their best lineups.

Though to be honest I can still see those teams doing better than Pak at the actual world cup, just due to the difference in batting quality. The real competition will be against each other, specifically India, England, and Australia - for that, momentum will actually be important and England has the best momentum of the three because it’s been playing 80% of its full squad.

 

[BreadPakoda]

I reckon they’re taking it a bit for granted, and why wouldn’t they with the top quality players they all have.

But there’s one crucial component that might be missed as a result — team synergy and balance, which is important to develop in T20s. Pretty much every franchise coach agrees that you need at least a few weeks for team bonding if you want a successful tournament, and we generally see T20s as a format where momentum is really really important.

Right now, Pakistan and New Zealand seem to be the only two sides taking it seriously.

India, England, West Indies, Australia, South Africa aren’t really consistently playing their best lineups.

Though to be honest I can still see those teams doing better than Pak at the actual world cup, just due to the difference in batting quality. The real competition will be against each other, specifically India, England, and Australia - for that, momentum will actually be important and England has the best momentum of the three because it’s been playing 80% of its full squad.

Excellent post. Totally agree that combination and synergy are very crucial.

 

[BreadPakoda]

With the all important test series up next...no one wants to take a chance with injuries.

The T20s should've been scheduled after tests.

Yet most of these players played the IPL....

 

[Rana]

Yeah let’s destroy international cricket by staging IPL instead of world T20 and then let’s suggest that top teams are not taking T20i seriously.

 

[Hyperion66]

Big 3 should continue to take t20s lightly, except for wc of course, for the sake of cricket. It gives lesser teams a fighting chance to beat top teams once in a while or even to sneak into the top of the table, something that is unthinkable for them to achieve in the two main formats, this in turn boost their moral and keeps the fans motivated, better for cricket overall.

 

[jeeteshssaxena]

The main attraction of this tour is the Border Gavaskar trophy.
That's why both teams aren't playing their full strength squad and i think its justified.

 

[PakPremi]

Top teams are actually doing the right thing as they get to give the upcoming players experience, and when in competitions they have some first team players missing due to injuries, suspensions etc they have ready made replacements with enough exposure at international standard. Top teams are still playing lots of first team players in the non tournament games.

 

[jeeteshssaxena]

Should have never lied about the concussion injury in the first place.

Cheats.

Show me the proof that he lied.
Fixers.

 

[Hasan123]

Teams are going to start playing their best team with 2 World T20s coming up . Australia and India had some players get injured so rested some players as they didn't want to risk any more injuries before the test series.

 

[Saurav]

Bilaterals are about team building anyway

 

[Babbar]

T20 is just the joker act for stress relief in any long and serious series among top 3 teams. Else T20 is mostly relegated to PSL, IPL, BBL, LPL etc.

Minnows are serious about T20s as they have a better chance in this format as a random performance may change a T20 game more easily than any other format.

So big teams use T20s to meet their obligation to invite minnows while scheduling very few test matches against them.

IPL & PSL are here to stay and will expand in the coming years. Cricket, at least T20s, is going the Basketball, Baseball and soccer way, with mostly club and franchisee ruling the calendar with very few international matches among top teams. At least BCCI and CA think that way.