From Seniors to Juniors : Cricket India rules.

 From Seniors to Juniors :

Cricket India rules!

The title fight has begun with the Under-19 World Cup Cricket & the T20 World Cup.

While the World Cricket was tuned to witness the partnership of Virat & Rohit in the recently concluded India-New Zealand series, the U-19 Indian team has started their mission to win the U-19 World Cup in the Jointly hosted tournament at South Africa & Namibia.

The men's T20 World Cup is knocking at the door, the boys' U-19 World Cup is in progress, followed by the Women's T20 World Cup starting in June 2026. Lots of Cricket ahead…

Exciting, entertaining, and enthralling cricket calendar throughout the year, leading to Championship fights in 2026 to 2027 World Cup & ICC WTC 2027.

Indian teams & their path ahead..

How are they prepared, while the best team combination is the key?

Do we have the best combination available?

Are we having the best Captain to lead? 

These questions are haunting every Cricket lover's mind. 

The recently concluded ODI series has opened the box of questions as to where it all went wrong.

In the year 2026, there are 15 more ODIs planned and Test Cricket to start again from mid of the year, and the T20 World Cup knocking at the door, challenges are galore.

India vs New Zealand T20 series:

India won the five-match series 4-1 with some excellent performances. Abhishek Sharma's excellence in the first game (35 ball, 84 runs), Rinku Singh ( 20 ball, 44 runs), followed by Ishan Kishan ( 32 ball, 76 runs) and Skipper SKY ( 37 ball, 82 runs), back to his golden form in the second game, highlights Team India’s journey to the World Cup.

The third ODI produced the magic spells led by Bumrah (3 for 17), ably supported by Ravi Bishnoi (2 for 18) and Hardik Pandya. 

The batting looked mind-boggling, with both Abhishek Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav looking in big touch, and Ishan Kishan starting the innings where he left off in the previous game……

Abhishek Sharma   68 of 20 balls

Suryakumar Yadav 57 of 26 balls

Ishan Kishan           28 of 13 balls

The unimaginable punishing attitude by all three; the New Zealanders looked clueless. 

The 4th T20 game tilted in New Zealand's way, and India lost with no such bowling or batting display. The wake-up call made wonders with India winning the 5th game convincingly. Shivam Dubey played majestically, scoring 50 off15 balls before he went back to the pavilion in an unfortunate manner at his individual score of 65 off 23 balls.

Ishan Kishan made a comeback statement with a scintillating century, scoring 103 in 43 balls. He made his intent clear with this given opportunity. The answer for all humiliation or self-inflicted bad name for non-cricketing reasons was too much to absolve. Two years in hibernation only brought out the hunger for runs, discipline for the big stage, and focus to regain the position. No big talking, no reactions; Ishan Kishan only replied with his bat.

The men behind his comeback, the Pandya brothers, with Hardik guiding the Junior Pro was visibly the happiest upon Ishan completing the covered three-figure marks.

Suryakumar Yadav Captain continued his comeback form, scoring a quickfire 63 off 30 balls, and became the fastest player to complete 3000 runs in 1842 balls in T20 Internationals.  Hardik showed his readiness, scoring 40 runs off 17 balls. India’s mammoth score of 275 runs is the third highest in T20 games.

New Zealand couldn't sustain the onslaught, and their innings folded at 225 runs. Arshdeep claiming fifer for the first time, and Axar coming back took three wickets.

The takeaway from the series just before the T20 WC revolves around the batters who all could strike form, barring Sanju Samson. 

The bowling unit needs to be well synchronized to arrest the flow of runs…Led by Jasprit Bumrah/ Varun Chakravarty/Arshdeep Singh/Axar Patel, the bowlers need to reunite and produce magic spells to prepare themselves for the Championship fight. 

The road for U-19 World Cup Win:

The Cricket India Juniors have started their campaign on high, winning the group games convincingly.

Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Abhigyan Kundu, Ayush Mhatre, Vihaan Melhotra, Vedant Trivedi, and Aaron George in batting are the key players. Kahilan Patel, Henil Patel, Deepesh Devendran, and Ambrish, in bowling and stable all-arounder Kanishk Chauhan, need to continue the winning streak to win the U-19 World Cup. 

Win over Pakistan has given a boost to fight for the Championship. 

From 47 runs for 3 wickets to 251 runs, the Indian U-19 team showed their character to reach a competitive total. If the top order fails, the middle order fights back. In this game, Vedant (68 runs) and  Kanishk Chauhan (35 runs) helped the team to reach this score.

India vs Pakistan at every level and in each game becomes the ‘mother of all fights’, and this particular game of young talents was no less than that. While Pakistan bowlers started their fight excellently with some great bowling, shattering the dream of key players, including Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Ayush Mhatre, and Abhigyan Kundu, with no significant contribution but couldn't keep the pressure till the last. 

In the bowling department for the Indian Junior, the story changed the moment the spinners came into play, with Captain Mhatre taking charge. 

Pakistan batters were driving their batting power slowly till they scored 151 runs for 3 wickets when, in tandem, Kanishk Chauhan, Khilan Patel, and Ayush Mhatre struck to reduce the flow of runs, which was over 5.5 runs an over to avg 3 runs an over. Suddenly, Pakistan juniors were reeling at 183 for 7 in the 40th over.

The Indian team's fielding was both spirited and focused. The bowlers were charged to put the brakes on and force the batters to make mistakes. The strategy, field placements, and bowling change did wonders to snatch the victory and win by 58 runs.

Conclusion :

The main batters starting from Vaibhav Suryavanshi need to continue deep into the innings and play sensible Cricket. His scores reflect the buildup. Strike rate of 190 or 200 keeps the bowlers on their toes, but it also makes the way for a silly shot and perish. The dismissal against Pakistan reflects the poor shot selection hampering the team's progress.

The bowlers in the big format of white ball game need to work hard in the upcoming games of semi-finals against Afghanistan, and then in the most coveted finals, bowl to a plan.

The Young Indian batters will have to give a good start, a decent middle over consolidation, and a final over onslaught to put up a winning score. 

Seniors and the Juniors do have the competitive edge & have the capabilities to defend a decent total and to chase a big target. The continuity to perform, win and contribute in tandem is what Cricket India has demonstrated over the last couple of years.

The stage is set to be the World Champions once again. The Cricketing World awaits the new Champion, and we wait to have a new Virat-Rohit from these talented boys.

In the Men's T20 team, Abhishek Sharma has to play as per the merit of the ball to continue till the 15th or 16th over. 

The bowlers have a big role to play. Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Harsith Rana, Hardik Pandya, and all others to perform to the best of their ability.

The opening stand or his continuation with Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Shreyas Iyer, and others will always become a boon for the team to become the best team in the Championship fight to be the World Champions for the third time and twice in succession…a record indeed.