And just like that, India have racked up another T20 international series win—this time against South Africa in South Africa. It’s their fourth successive series victory since being crowned the T20 World Champions in Barbados in June. While the results may not be as surprising, the manner in which it happened tells the story of the ‘IPL generation’ of cricketers.
Since Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja bid adieu to the shortest format after the T20 World Cup, the next generation has taken to international cricket like fish to water. These players grew up watching sixes hit for fun in the IPL. Their comfort with the new coaching manual for big-hitting has made them run-scoring machines. With the old generation giving way to the new, the scoring rate has increased exponentially.
Scoring 100s in 40-plus balls has become a norm. Openers Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma are giving starts that India could have only dreamt of a decade ago. Tilak Varma is striking sweet and fast. It is only natural that the leading run-scorers since the World Cup final have strike rates past 170—Sanju Samson (180.91 SR), Tilak Varma (198.58) and Abhishek Sharma (171.81). Then there is Yashasvi Jaiswal (170), Rinku Singh (143.8) and Nitish K Reddy (180).
This generation grew up by and large playing T20s, and so it has become their second nature to bat the way they have so far. To do it in a league like IPL, where each team has some uncapped bowlers to target, is one thing; but to replicate such hitting against South Africa stamps their class. India, for the longest time, were perceived as a team lagging in batting in the shortest format.
Rohit and the then head coach Rahul Dravid ensured that it changed, and they signed off with a global title to remember. The next generation under Suryakumar Yadav is taking that legacy forward. It is only fitting that Yadav is leading India into the future, for he has been a pioneer of explosive T20 batting irrespective of the circumstances. With these next-gen superstars to assist him, it would be fair to say that Indian cricket is in safe hands.