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India go into the next T20I World Cup as strong favourites, but their captain isn’t fully buying into that talk

Sidharth Monga08-Nov-20254:36

It was fire and fire today: Abhishek on his stand with Gill

India have now won each of the seven T20I series they have been part of since winning the 2024 T20 World Cup. They hold a 26-4 win-loss record over this period. They still have two bilateral series at home, where they will defend their crown in about three months. Surely they are favourites given their strengths, experience and current record, but their captain Suryakumar Yadav is aware you can never say all the bases are covered.”I’m very lucky to have all these boys with different-different skills,” he said after the Brisbane washout when asked if India had all bases covered. “They bring very different-different things to the table. When we chat around about the bowling, batting, and fielding… You must have seen a lot of energy on the ground. People enjoy when they go together on the ground.”But yeah, from a batting point of view, definitely what we’ve been doing in the last six to eight months, I think we’re sticking to that, not changing anything. These guys are doing it really well. The way they bat at the top of the order, it puts a smile on everyone’s face when they’re batting together.Related

• India seal T20I series 2-1 after Brisbane washout

“And also from a bowling point of view as well, people are taking responsibility. Having an experienced bowler like [Jasprit] Bumrah around in the team and everyone chatting with him, learning a lot of skills, tricks and trade of the game, I think that’s a good thing. So there’s good friendship building up in that as well.”So we are trying to get there. There’s never anything like all bases covered. We always learn from this game, every game we play. Yeah, till now things look good, touch wood, let’s continue that.”Abhishek Sharma became the fastest batter to 1000 T20I runs by balls faced•AFP/Getty Images

One of the top-order batters responsible for putting said smiles on faces sat next to Suryakumar as the Player of the Series. During the course of this Australia tour, Abhishek Sharma became the quickest to 1000 T20I runs in terms of balls faced. He also played a more sedate innings when he judged the pitch to be a tricky one. India defended 167 successfully in that match.Suryakumar was impressed with that aspect of Abhishek’s game, joking that sometimes even a tiger has to turn herbivorous. “If the wicket is difficult, the quicker you adapt the better it is,” Suryakumar said. “The wicket was good today so they went back to normal, scoring 50-plus in four-and-a-half overs. But it was important in the last game to read the wicket well. These two [Abhishek and opening partner Shubman Gill] did that well. At this level, you only learn from experience. The way he adapted so quickly, if in the future also if we get such a wicket in the subcontinent, it won’t be something new for him.”They communicate well. They run well. They are learning quickly. Yes, there are just 120 balls, but often you have more time than you think. Sometimes if they take four-five balls extra to figure out the conditions, they are so skilled they can cover up easily.”Abhishek credited all his success to the absolute freedom given to him by the team management, who, he said, told him he will still be in the side if he scores 15 consecutive ducks. “I knew there’s gonna be extra bounce and pace, but, from a team point of view, I had a plan that I have to play the same way I’ve been playing. Because as an opening batter, it’s very easy for you to understand your role.”But I feel when you’re playing like this, when you want to dominate the opposition, you have to have that confidence and that ability. I think the captain and coach always backed me in that. I practised really hard on this because it’s not easy to come to Australia and beat them in white-ball cricket as well. So I wanted to play the same brand of cricket because we have been following that since before the Asia Cup.”

Joining Manchester United in their pomp is easy. Joining Manchester United in their current state, fresh off the back of a worst-ever Premier League campaign at Old Trafford, requires a little bit of craziness.

Craziness to believe that you can be the man to lift the Red Devils out of their ongoing decline, with ex-Brentford talisman Bryan Mbeumo – signed on a £71m deal over the summer – already looking like he’s ready to do just that.

There may not have been the glamour attached to the deal that there was when names like Angel Di Maria or Radamel Falcao rocked up in Manchester, but that might be because this marquee move actually made sense, with Ruben Amorim and co forking out for a properly Premier League-proven figure.

Having netted 20 times in the top-flight last time out under Thomas Frank, there was a feeling that the Cameroonian was destined for the Champions League, with his former boss intent on taking him to Tottenham Hotspur.

The 26-year-old, to his credit, made it clear he only wanted United, patiently waiting out protracted negotiations to eventually seal his desired switch. Six goals in his first 12 games for the club have since followed.

Mbeumo is now the benchmark for further reinforcements to try and meet, with recent reports indicating that additional attacking recruits could potentially be in the works.

Man Utd's search for a forward

While the extent of his injury is yet to be known, the potential absence of Benjamin Sesko has brought the lack of genuine alternatives to the Slovenian into sharper focus, with Joshua Zirkzee the only other senior striker in Amorim’s ranks.

Sesko, signed for £74m from RB Leipzig, has made a promising albeit unspectacular start in English football with just two goals scored across league and cup, with questions to be asked over whether a more experienced marksman is still required.

According to reports in Spain, that very fact may well see United renew their interest in a certain Harry Kane in 2026, with the England skipper deemed to be a ‘proven solution’ to their long-standing centre-forward woes.

Transfer Focus

Mega money deals, controversial moves and big-name flops. This is the home of transfer news and opinion across Football FanCast.

As per the report, the likes of Barcelona and Chelsea are also paying close attention to the 32-year-old’s situation at Bayern Munich, with his existing deal in Bavaria set to expire in 2027.

Kane, the piece suggests, is keen to stay at the Allianz Arena, although the presence of a reported €65m (£57m) release clause in his current contract will certainly spark a raft of interest heading into the New Year.

Whether it is January or next summer, Kane – who was Erik ten Hag’s prime target back in 2023 – would still remain a significant coup if INEOS could pull it off.

Why Man Utd could land an even better signing than Mbeumo

2023 remains a frustrating window as far as United are concerned, with Ten Hag’s apparent interest in the likes of Kane and Declan Rice ultimately counting for little, as Mason Mount, Rasmus Hojlund and Andre Onana all arrived instead.

Hojlund, as those at Old Trafford are aware, has since proved to be something of a mixed bag, having scored just 26 goals in 95 games in all competitions, alongside a further four goals on loan at Napoli this season.

Since leaving Spurs for Bayern two years ago, meanwhile, Kane has gone on to amass a ridiculous haul of 108 goals in just 113 games for the Bundesliga giants, becoming the quickest player this century to reach triple figures for a team in one of Europe’s top five leagues.

Mbeumo might have stolen the show with a standout 2024/25 campaign for the Bees, but if it is true Premier League proven quality that you are after, then Kane is the man. 213 goals in England’s top-tier places him third on the all-time list.

Widely regarded as the best striker in the world, Kane has scored at least 17 league goals in every season stretching from 2014/15 to 2024/25. As for the new campaign, he already has 13 in ten in Germany’s top division. Mbeumo, for contrast, has five in 11.

Not your typical superstar, the former Spurs talisman is simply efficient to the extreme, with few players in the modern era having possessed such a ruthless, clinical streak in front of goal.

The beauty of Kane too, however, is that he isn’t just your average penalty box poacher. There are so many strings to his extraordinary bow.

Even deployed in almost a central midfield role at times under Vincent Kompany this season, namely in the win over Borussia Dortmund, England’s record scorer has that knack for being able to spray passes at will, having developed into an all-encompassing, playmaking number nine.

Such traits even led Tottenham great David Ginola to liken him to a legendary figure of the past back in 2022: “He is like the new Diego Maradona now. Long passes, short passes, he has it all.”

At 32, while he may be entering that ‘last dance’ territory, Amorim and United certainly shouldn’t turn their nose up at the chance to bring Kane back to England. There is Alan Shearer’s record to chase for him, after all.

Now worth more than Anderson: Man Utd star is the "nearest thing" to Zidane

Manchester United have hit the jackpot on a star who’s worth more than Elliot Anderson.

By
Ethan Lamb

Nov 14, 2025

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