Rinus Michels, head coach and head coach of Ajax and the great Dutch football team of the 1970s, ripped football tactics textbooks to shreds and came up with “Totaalvoetbal,” which translates in English as “Total Football.” It frees players from the fixed traditional roles of forward, midfielder and defender, allowing players to find space and take advantage of the high press. The defender attacks and the attacker defends. Captain Johan Kloof embraced the idea and took it with him as head coach at Ajax and Barcelona, and today, Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola still uses the idea but with a few minor tweaks of his own. The 1974 Netherlands team is often cited as the greatest team to never win the Football World Cup. But it created a dynasty and left a legacy.Push boundaries with our YouTube channel. Subscribe now!Ever since the thrilling wins against the United States and the West Indies in June 2024 under Rohit Sharma and coach Rahul Dravid, the Indian cricket team has been playing its own version of the ‘Total T20’ in the most popular and best-selling format of the game. They managed to create an intimidation factor almost akin to the unbeaten performances of Ricky Ponting’s great Australia team in 2003 and 2007. During the same period, Ponting’s team also won two International ICC Champions Trophies.
Whenever India takes the field in a T20 World Cup, the opponents wonder, “Where is the weakness?”. India have had an attacking start, a team full of formidable batting potential and a diverse bowling line-up ahead of being ranked eighth. Of course, South Africa found some holes in the Indian armor and defeated them in the Super-8 clash in Ahmedabad. England also came close to achieving the seemingly impossible target of 254 in the semi-final in Mumbai, although the pressure on the final scoreboard was too much.Also read: Threemendous: T20 Kings defend titleIndia has won eight consecutive bilateral T20I series since the 2024 T20 World Cup. They have won seven series since captain Suryakumar Yadav and head coach Gautam Gambhir took over. The last time India lost a T20I series was against West Indies away in August 2023. No one remembers it. Want to bring back your memory? Hardik Pandya is the captain of India. He was supposed to be Rohit’s heir apparent after Adelaide suffered a 10-wicket defeat against England in the 2022 T20 WC semi-finals.Transformations in the Indian cricket ecosystem are often tricky, especially when teams have to let go of legends like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. However, in the T20I set-up, India’s transition has been seamless.The selectors and Gambhir were quick to name ‘SKY’ as T20I captain, omitting Hardik citing poor fitness and limited availability. They told SKY that he will be treated purely as a T20I player and he will not play any role in other formats.Next, a high-risk, high-reward hitting template is set. The Indian team started actively looking for personnel who could help the team score above-par scores while batting first. This approach, especially on batting-friendly surfaces, yields results because variables like toss and dew tend to have a huge cushion of scores. Despite consecutive low scores, players like Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma were given spot safety.In the 13 games after June 29, 2024 (the date of the T20 World Cup final), India have batted more than 200 times. They scored over 250 five times. The safety-first Powerplay approach is abandoned, and the adaptation period is minimized or even eliminated. The role of the anchor is categorized, and influence is prioritized over landmarks. So, instead of going for a run and trying to get closer to the milestone, Samson hit big shots of 89 in the semi-finals and final but failed in the end. Perhaps he would have squandered valuable goods in the bargain. If he scores his century, are Tilak Varma and Hardik Pandya likely to have cameos?Gambhir has publicly said the figures are overestimated. However, the former relies on data to orchestrate games and flexibly uses the batting order to achieve the goal of a total score above par.Spinners started bowling in the powerplay and certain batsmen were stopped, only to be released to certain types of bowlers. Designated spin batsmen like Shivam Dube were given steady roles. Eight batsmen and six bowlers became the mantra for Gambhir and Sky prioritizing “multidimensional” players, often blurring the lines between specialists and all-rounders to ensure India always batted deep. If this means power bowlers like Arshdeep Singh and Kuldeep Yadav are left out due to poor batting ability, then so be it. To hell with the social media chatter. The message is clear: batting will not be affected as this allows batsmen to work harder even if they lose wickets.Apart from all-round generation superstars like Jasprit Bumrah, the ‘Mission 2026’ squad of ‘SKY’ and Gambhir is a classic T20 squad with professional players. Samson, Abhishek, “SKY” himself, Tilak, Rinku Singh, Hardik, Axar Patel, Shivam Dube, Arshdeep, Varun Chakravarthy. These players are unapologetic about craving T20 success or enjoying the riches their franchise roles have to offer. They don’t say platitudes like “Test cricket is the real cricket”. Nor have they expressed an ambition to do 100 Tests or get 10,000 Test runs. They were content with a two-year cycle of “eternal life.”Sunday’s victory enables India to create a new T20 dynasty, at least for the next two years and maybe beyond.
