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Sachin Tendulkar from India's maiden T20I game, Hardik Pandya in current T20I kit (Image Credit: Twitter)
During the first T20I against West Indies on August 3, India will mark their 200th game in the shortest format. The Men In Blue's journey started in this format in December 2006. In the standalone T20I game of the all-format series, the then Virender Sehwag-led side won by six wickets and one ball to spare. It was a low-scoring thriller with both teams not having any idea what was in store.
Nine months later, Apex Council managed to organize the inaugural T20 World Cup in South Africa. While the teams were making their squads from their ODI setup, the Indian Cricket Board was reluctant to send the team to the tournament. The officials at the time oppose the format, calling it a circus. In the midst of this, senior players such as Sachin Tendulkar, Zaheer Khan, Rahul Dravid, and Sourav Ganguly decided to rest.
Despite the reluctance, the board sent the team and eventually, became champions of the tournament. In only their second game of their T20I history, they locked horns with Pakistan and the result was decided via bowl out. Four games later, both India and Pakistan were at each other throats for the final of the tournament.
India's T20 World Cup win paved way for IPL
This win led to the India board thinking about launching their own T20 league. Before them, England had the T20 Blast (which is nowhere now currently in terms of popularity). Meanwhile, talking about the international T20I for India, Tendulkar never played again in this format.
Rahul Dravid made his debut in 2011, only to retire three hours later. Sourav Ganguly never played a single game of T20I for the national side. Zaheer, who played in 2012 might rue his decision not to play five years earlier (although he was in the ODI World Cup in 2011). In the midst of all this, the former champions are still searching for another glory after 2007. They played in the final in 2014 and the semis in 2016 and 2022.
Next year, they will try again in the West Indies and the USA. The upcoming T20I series in these countries will mark the start of the preparation towards lifting their second only title.