T20I series takeaways: India now a team of allrounders and fearless cricketers

When Abhishek Sharma was picked as the only regular opener in the squad, it was clear he was going to play all three matches. It gave him an opportunity to strengthen his case as India's back-up opener when Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal return. He did show great intent but failed to last more than 11 balls in any of the games - though, to be fair to him, he was run out for no fault of his in the first T20I in Gwalior. With ball, he sent down three overs and took one wicket for 18 runs.

After two successive ducks in Sri Lanka, it seemed like Sanju Samson was going to fall behind, again. Opening the innings against Bangladesh, he looked good in the first T20I before holing out for 29 off 19 balls. Finally, in the third T20I, he showed why he has so many backers - in a masterclass in effortless hitting, he scored the second-fastest T20I hundred for India. It may not make him India's first-choice wicketkeeper-batter in a full-strength squad, but he shouldn't have to worry about his place in the squad when the team tours South Africa next month for four T20Is.

At the start of the series, Suryakumar Yadav had said he wanted his players to be selfless. And the players followed their captain's order to a T. Samson's innings in the first T20I was one such case. Given India were chasing only 128, he could have taken his time after a quick start but he was dismissed attempting a six. The second T20I in Delhi gave an even bigger example of that approach. Even after being reduced to 41 for 3 in the sixth over, they kept their foot on the pedal and eventually got 221 for 9. When everything went as per the plan in the third T20I, they posted 297 for 6, the second-highest total in the format.

Another significant feature of India's playing XIs in the series was the presence of a plethora of allrounders. Till recently, India struggled to find players who could chip in with both bat and ball. But that is no longer the case. Without compromising on the batting depth, Suryakumar had at least seven bowling options in every match. Hardik Pandya showed he could still finish with bat and bowl at a lively pace. Nitish Kumar Reddy emerged as Hardik's worthy understudy, scoring 74 off 34 balls and taking two wickets in only his second T20I. Riyan Parag and Washington Sundar also gave good accounts of themselves in the limited chances they got.

With multiple allrounders in their XI now, India do not necessarily need a like-for-like replacement for Ravindra Jadeja. In this series, they went with Varun Chakravarthy as their lead spinner (who can't really bat) and he did not disappoint. Making a comeback after three years, Varun started with a three-for in the first T20I before picking up 2 for 19 in the second. He capped it with an economical 4-0-23-0 in the last game. He will face stiff competition when Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav are available but he has done no harm to his chances.

When Mayank Yadav was picked after a long injury layoff, everyone wanted to see if he was the same 155kph bowler who took the cricket world by storm at IPL 2024. Making his T20I debut in Gwalior, he started with a maiden and bowled 18 of his 24 deliveries above 140kph. Twelve of those were in excess of 145kph. Even though his top speed in the series was only 150.3kph, he was largely accurate and played all three games without any fitness concerns. He has also worked on his slower ball and used it regularly.

Mayank and Reddy's debuts, though, might not be great news for Lucknow Super Giants and Sunrisers Hyderabad, their respective IPL teams. Now they cannot keep them for INR 4 crore, the retention fee for uncapped players. Kolkata Knight Riders were lucky in that sense as Harshit Rana had a viral infection before the third T20I and remains uncapped.