Indians Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma lift the cup (Getty)
Former England captain Michael Atherton has declared the Indian national cricket team the leading force in limited-overs cricket, saying their recent dominance puts them in a strong position to potentially lift all three ICC white-ball trophies at the same time.India strengthened its position by defeating the New Zealand national cricket team by 96 runs in the final of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup on Sunday. The win secured a record third title for India and also made them the first team to successfully defend a T20 World Cup. It was also the first time a team had lifted the cup at home.
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Speaking on Sky Sports Cricket, Atherton said India’s superiority extends beyond the T20 format and reflects their wider dominance in white-ball cricket.
“India is more than just a prominent T20 team. They are the prominent white-ball team at the moment,” Atherton said.He pointed to India’s impressive record in recent ICC tournaments to underscore the point.“In the last few international events organized by the International Cricket Council, before today, they have won 30 out of 32 matches. They have only been beaten in the final of the 50-over World Cup here by Australia, and that match against South Africa earlier in this tournament.
“In white-ball cricket, they are the standout team. They were the strongest team here and deserved their win,” he added.India’s dominance in the ICC limited-overs competitions began during the 2023 Cricket World Cup, where they won every match before losing the final to the Australia national cricket team. The team then went through the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup unbeaten and followed it up with another perfect campaign in the ICC Champions Trophy in 2025.Their only setback in the recent T20 World Cup came against the South African Cricket Team during the Super Eight stage.With another Cricket World Cup scheduled for next year, Atherton believes India now have a realistic chance of retaining every ICC limited-overs trophy at once.“They might get rid of everything, there is an 50-over World Cup next year, and they have a chance now to retain the Champions Trophy, the T20 World Cup and the 50-over World Cup in one go, and that will certainly be their target,” Atherton said.Former England captain Nasser Hussain believes India’s continued success comes from a simple but highly effective formula. According to him, the batting order is full of aggressive power batsmen combined with the brilliance of the spearhead
Jasprit Bumrah
It makes the team very difficult to beat.“India’s formula is very simple.“The batting line-up is full of powerful batsmen who will give you an above-average score and a bowler in Bumrah, who will give you an under-par score probably enough. He is an absolute genius and when you combine those two elements, they are virtually unbeatable,” he added.
