Can you be critical of a side that has won every major competition it has entered since 2024? Possibly. Especially when you put in performances like the Indian team has done in between those fine results.
Since the 2024 T20 World Cup win, India have won the 50-over ICC Champions Trophy, Asia Cup, and successfully defended their T20 world title and the Asian Games gold medal this year.
But right alongside, the team were also been whitewashed at home in Tests by New Zealand and South Africa – having been undefeated in their backyard for over a decade, lost the Border Gavaskar Trophy to Australia, embarrassed by Ireland (in T20s) and England (T20s and ODIs) right after their World Cup win this year and are now being taken apart by a spirited West Indies at home.
The double T20 world champions were outplayed in the fourth match of the five-game T20 series against the Windies, falling to a 24-run loss in Hyderabad. The series is now tied 2-2.
In the preceding ODI series, the West Indies easily chased down a target of 350 and also smashed 400 in the second game. That series was won 2-1 by India but they were stretched well past their limits.
It's the same story in the T20s. In fact, India have been hammered for the third straight bilateral T20 series – defeats to Ireland and England away and now an uphill battle against the Caribbean side.
If the Windies secure the T20 series win on Saturday, it wouldn’t be a surprise.
Shouldn’t that worry Indian cricket management? It should, but what can they do when the team ends up winning every major tournament? India won a world and a continental title in 2026. The same set of players have also been thrashed by Ireland, England and the Windies in the same year. How do you reconcile both facts?
Same story or beginning of the end?
There are two ways to look at it. One is that India have mastered the art of stumbling their way through low priority bilateral series and somehow finding the perfect formula when the big tournaments come around.
The other is India were playing major tournaments in Asian conditions for the last two years and would have been found out if any of the events were held in England or Australia.
There is only one way to find out – wait for next two years.
The next big assignment for all teams is the ODI World Cup in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia, followed by the 2028 T20 World Cup Down Under and the Los Angeles Olympics in the same year.
Indian fans and cricket administrators might prefer to wait until all three assignments are completed, before taking stock of the situation.
Around 10 or so years back, India were the undisputed champions of bilateral series, home and away. But they did not win a single major tournament, much to the pain of the then captain Virat Kohli.
The script has flipped completely, where the players endure bewildering losses home and away in all formats, only to go back to their homes with another winners' medal in the cabinet.
This can’t last long though. Conditions in South Africa and Australia are going to be daunting even for the most in-form Indian team, let alone a group that can barely stand still. It could open some deep wounds.
Time for reinforcements?
One thing is clear – India do not have ready replacements for their veterans. The fitness concerns of all-rounder Hardik Pandya and workload management of Jasprit Bumrah have ruined the balance of the white-ball teams, while they still have not found a reliable substitute for Mohammad Shami or even Mohammad Siraj.
No wonder the ageing Kohli and Rohit Sharma are guaranteed to play the ODI World Cup next year. Fast bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar is back in the T20 team for the forthcoming New Zealand tour; he last played for India in 2022.
Fellow veteran quick Shami is highly likely to be back before the ODI World Cup, especially since the Indian team’s selection panel is undergoing a change with older yet in-form players being given a look-in once again.
Maybe, India will win a couple of more titles and fans will forget about pain of the bilaterals. If not, then there will be a feeding frenzy.