When we talk of cricket and invincibles the West Indies team of the 1970s and 80s and the Australian outfit of the 2000s stand neck and crop ahead of the rest. They were teams that had a well-rounded group of players, comfortable in each other's company and good enough to overcome any obstacles to tilt the match in their favour.
Even though both these outfits oozed the aura of becoming superstar teams, it took decades for them to eventually be conferred with the status. The current Indian T20 team is still shaping up but is already exuding immense potential and promise.
It wasn’t long ago that this team, sans a few names, was thumped by Windies in the World T20 in 2016 at home but the elimination seems to have worked in India's favour as they have seemingly identified the right way moving forward.
A marked change in approach and a few personnel changes have seen India’s T20 outfit turn into an intimidating one but they could still better theselves with a few minor, yet important, tweaks.
Perhaps it is time India switched the Hitman to the middle-order in T20s. He is not averse to the role or unfamiliar in the position given that he bats at 3 or 4 for Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League. India does have a lot of concerns in the middle-order in terms of scoring rate and lack of a strong hand in the middle-order with Dhoni not quite the ODI player that he is in this format of the game.
Suresh Raina was recalled with a view of bringing stability to the middle-order but his inclusion means Shreyas Iyer and Manish Pandey are in a tussle for one spot which isn't good considering that these young guns have done extremely well domestically and need more chances.
Rohit’s move to the middle-order not only opens up a slot at the top of the order which Iyer or Kohli himself can fill but also gives the middle-order some much needed stability.
This is a given considering that Kohli has donned the role so successfully at Royal Challengers Bangalore and needs as much time as possible out there in the middle. One reason why Kohli isn't opening is owing to the fact that if he gets dismissed early, India lack enough oomph and balance in the middle-order.
But with Rohit moving down, that conundrum is fixed and India can back Kohli to open. Being the best batsman in the format for India (possibly the best ever in the World) the skipper needs to be out there for the maximum time and deserves the opening slot particularly since he has played there before with success in the IPL.
In Manish Pandey and Shreyas Iyer, India have two young guns who have tasted success in the IPL and need the right backing to excel at the highest level. With Rohit at 4 and Kohli opening, both Iyer and Pandey can eye the no.3 spot where they have proved themselves for Delhi Daredevils and Kolkata Knight Riders respectively.
If India need to play both of them, Rahul might have to sit out since Manish Pandey is a better player lower down the order. There is also the option of bringing in someone like Krunal Pandya to fill in at no.6 or 7 behind Dhoni and act as a backup bowling option as well.
One of Iyer, Pandey or Rahul can bat at 3 and assuming that is one of Rahul or Iyer, Pandey can tussle for a spot with Krunal Pandya in the middle-order.
If anything looks picture perfect at this stage, it is bowling. With Jaydev Unadkat coming in, India have three exceptional seamers - Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah being the others - capable of excelling at any stage in the innings.
Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav man the spin bowling department and have proven to be more than capable options. Only one of the two spinners might play though unless India think the two working together in tandem is the way moving forward.
To do that, though, India might have to sit out one of the three pacers since none of the five aforementioned names in the bowling department are good batsmen (Bhuvneshwar comes close but isn't as good in T20s as in Tests). This is where someone like Krunal Pandya can step up and don the additional spinner's role while coupling as a batsman too.
All in all the signs are too promising to ignore and India could well be on their way to become a T20 giant.