To start the year of the T20 World Cup, Aotearoa's Blackcaps have cruised their way to a 0-5 series sweep against India and everything's actually pretty damn swell. India have been the better team throughout the series and watching folks like KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja go about their work has been an absolute pleasure - especially when you ponder if any kiwi can play strokes like we saw Rahul roll through for example.

The Super Overs were cute and these make for kinda lame jokes that you're mate's gonna spin your way. The last three games, including the two Super Over losses saw the Blackcaps chasing and stumbling their way to these draws/losses in examples of why playing a lot of T20 cricket leading up to the T20 World Cup is crucial. India not only oozed cricketing wizardry, they looked that extra bit comfy with the format and how to sniff out a win from the different positions a game can throw up. Aotearoa are still sussing these things out.

Ultimately, major questions were answered.

Colin Munro didn't feel like he was at the peak of his powers throughout this series, yet he finished as the leading run-scorer for Aotearoa. Ross Taylor and Kane Williamson both had better series' respectively with higher averages and strike-rates than Munro, but remember where we are coming from with Munro. For Munro to merely be among the Blackcaps' best batsmen is a major boost.

Scoring 178 runs @ 35.60avg/130.88sr, Munro had the lowest strike-rate of the five Blackcaps batsmen who scored 100+ runs; Taylor, Williamson, Tim Seifert and Martin Guptill. In these five games, Munro put 2019 behind him and perhaps a whiff of desperation saw him put a greater price on his wicket, regardless of whether he was middling balls to the boundary or simply gathering runs.

Munro in 2019

12 games, 22.41avg/154.59sr.

Munro in 2020

5 games, 35.60avg/130.88sr.

In the last five years, Munro has averaged less than 30 once and that was 2019. While this was a blip, it was a decent drop off in a large sample size and carried over into this summer's Super Smash. For the time being, Munro has settled back into his T20I work and the beauty in Munro's performance over this series was that it was kinda ugly, with Munro grasping for any run-scoring traction he could find.

The other notable Blackcaps T20I trend was Ish Sodhi. Guess who finished as the leading wicket-taker for Aotearoa in this series? Ish Sodhi, tied with Hamish Bennett. Sodhi and Bennett both took 6w, but Sodhi and Scott Kuggeleijn were the only notable kiwi bowlers to average under 30. Finishing with 6w @ 24.33avg/7.30rpo, Sodhi was also the most economical bowler and again, along with Kuggeleijn's 24.66avg/7.40rpo, they were the only kiwi bowlers to concede less than 8rpo.

Here are Sodhi's recent annual numbers, that caused concern...

2018

10w @ 37.40avg/8.31rpo.

2019

10w @ 35avg/10.04rpo.

2020

6w @ 24.33avg/7.30rpo.

Prior to 2018, Sodhi averaged less than 20 for three straight years. Like Munro, Sodhi did exactly what was required of him in this series in terms of commanding near-certain selection status. Which isn't quite as clear-cut for Kuggeleijn, however Kuggeleijn joins Hamish Bennett as warranting further inspection among the cluttered T20I bowling stocks and while these two both took their opportunities in this series, things get niggly when pondering the return of Trent Boult and Lockie Ferguson.

The prospect of someone like Bennett in conjunction with Ferguson could be a point of difference for the Blackcap, depending on stylistic elements of how the Blackcaps want to operate. I can see the positives behind have two hostile seamers, lads who are there to take wickets and have the heavy-ball-hostilities combined with the required skills of T20I bowling. Funnily enough, most of the kiwi bowlers are of this mould when including Kuggeleijn and Blair Tickner; Tim Southee and Trent Boult are cut from a different style cloth.

As for Tickner, he got a bit of a raw deal in playing both Eden Park games before making way for Kuggeleijn and took just 1w @ 68avg/11.33rpo. Flip the Tickner/Kuggeleijn usage and their stats might flip as well, but we did see Bennett offer more potency than Tickner and in the grand scheme, that's important for Bennett.

There is a running narrative around Ross Taylor's T20I work that doesn't do Taylor justice as Aotearoa's best T20I batsmen and this pops up in various forms as commentators discuss him slog sweeping in his younger days, or his time out of the T20I team and so on. Taylor's T20I consistency is getting freakier by the game and is completely aligned with him hitting a nek level in Tests and ODI cricket, finishing this T20I series with 166 runs @ 41.50avg/131.74sr.

The return of Williamson may slow my buzz on Taylor being the T20I maestro, as Taylor has got through 26 games in the last three (2018, 2019, 2020) compared to Williamson's 18 games. In this series, Williamson jacked up 160 runs @ 53.33avg/170.21sr and showcased is supreme batsmanship with two 50+ scores in 3inns.

At this stage, having Martin Guptill (meh series, but good enough), Munro, Williamson and Taylor forms the foundations for the batting unit. Williamson and Taylor are the perfect lads to bat through the middle stages of a T20I and while they are both have adequate strike-rates, their presence through the middle phase is crucial in the sense of riding the wave of the innings.

Commentators tend to be desperate for boundaries and that focus takes the attention away from the roles of re-building an innings, assessing conditions and the scope of an innings. In Williamson and Taylor, there are T20I cornerstones who can dictate the flow of an innings unlike any other kiwi batsman. Then inject the hitters around them.

Hitters like Tim Seifert, who worked his way around to some nifty run-scoring to finish with 141 runs @ 47avg/142.42sr. Seifert is always going to be hot and cold, that's the nature of his job in T20I cricket and that's easier to take when blended in with a strong, defined batting line up. The ability of Seifert to score all-around the wicket is what catches the eye and for the Blackcaps to be competitive on the biggest stage, they need this level of craft in accumulating as many runs as possible; Williamson and Taylor are super crafty, Seifert's rather crafty.

Seifert grabbed a big tick, Colin de Grandhomme drifted into the abyss with 8 runs @ 2.66avg/42.10sr. Tom Bruce didn't exactly cover himself in selection delights as Bruce put up a pair of ducks, which is part of longer streak of limited runs; Bruce has three 20+ scores in his last 7inns in T20 cricket including Super Smash.

Where that leaves de Grandhomme is damn intriguing. Remember that it was all warm-fluffies for de Grandhomme a few months ago, batting #4 in the T20I format and when you ponder that Guptill, Munro, Williamson, Taylor and Seifert all did their jobs in this series, then that Jimmy Neesham is demanding selection - where does de Grandhomme fit right now?

Daryl Mitchell will be eager for more game time and everyone's going to be pulling out their old chemistry textbook to see how Devon Conway can wiggle his way into the Blackcaps T20I team. I'm leaning further away from de Grandhomme in the Blackcaps top-five batting line up, which then puts de Grandhomme in the all-rounder bracket where he's got to add more value than Mitchell and/or Neehsam. My strongest Blackcaps T20I team would have two of that de Grandhomme/Neesham/Mitchell group in it, not sure who and not sure how they fit though.

Those who dabble in the dramatic, or lack the effort to dive deeper into performances will be out to cause trouble. Like the Test series vs Australia, if the Blackcaps don't have their 1st 11 playing against the best teams in the world, then results will be hard to come by. This series wasn't really about results though and whether it was getting some lads back in form, re-integrating Williamson into the T20I fold or seeing what new players cam do, this series offered more answers than queries.

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Peace and love 27.