India, Feb. 1 -- Still early days but the results and process makes one feel upbeat about India's chances of successfully defending the T20 World Cup at home next year. Series wins against Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and South Africa, and now England, make India's T20 trajectory stand out amid the gloom cast by the Test and ODI transition troubles. Even more when one takes into account that Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant, Shubman Gill, Jasprit Bumrah and Kuldeep Yadav haven't been parachuted in.

Which is probably a bigger achievement. Yet they have gone about it almost unnoticed. No star culture. Check. No fixed batting order. Check. Just a band of young, skilled and supremely confident cricketers doing their thing without being hung...