India reap the benefits of changing intent

From March 2021 till the loss to New Zealand in the T20 World Cup, India had to bat first in nine games while they chased only three times in the same time frame. There were six losses in those nine attempts batting first, with India also losing the toss on eight of those occasions. With the toss factor playing a major role in the T20 World Cup where India lost their opening two games which effectively shut the door on their further progress, they needed to readdress their methods.

The three times that India had won in that timeframe batting first, they had posted totals north of 160 - 185/8 and 224/2 were their winning totals against England while they finished with 164/5 in their lone win in the T20I series against Sri Lanka last year. But in the aforementioned six losses, they had posted 150-plus only twice, with 156 being their highest score. In their losses to Pakistan and New Zealand in October, India ended up with 151 and 110, while they had posted 124 and 156 in their losses to England earlier in 2021.

In all these games, they lost at least two wickets in the powerplay and by the time the 15th over was completed, they had lost four or more wickets and weren't able to finish their innings as well as they would have liked. India's progression through the Powerplay, Middle Overs and the Death in the losses wasn't something to boast about and their conservative approach made matters worse for them as they ended up having their feet in two boats. "To be brutal upfront, I don't think we were brave enough," quipped Virat Kohli after the loss to New Zealand in the World Cup.

India's totals break-up in losses while batting first since 2021

Since that loss, India have enjoyed a streak of 10 successive victories in the T20I format and