with such a fine line between victory and defeat heres what teams can learn from past t20is on indian soilan analytical arms race is brewing as top teams await the starting gun theres fierce competition at this level when it comes to the number crunching with backroom research boys collating reams of data in the hope of gaining an inch or two of advantage over the adjacent dressing room we at toi did some number crunching of our own cutting to the chase below restricting our data only to completed t20 internationals played on indian soil before the world t20 qualifying stage matches began and came up with some unexpected pointers it may all eventually boil to player temperament and proper execution of skills but a bit of headway in the strategizing department doesnt hurt here are our five keys to success in this world t201 team winning toss and deciding to bat first will lose more often than notno team has won the toss elected to bat and gone on to win a match on indian soil in general chasing should be the preferred option with 11 out of 15 completed games excluding those involving minnows won by the side batting second even in the four games where the side batting first won one victory was by the narrowest margin possible a one run win by new zealand over india in chennai in sep 2012indias captain ms dhoni it would seem is all too aware of this piece of statistic the last time he won the toss at home in a t20 international and decided to bat first was on oct 29 2011 against england at the eden gardens no prizes for guessing that india lost that game incidentally the eden game is the only time india has not put the opposition in after winning the toss in a home t202 keep wickets in hand while chasing just like in oneday internationalsthats a surprising trend given that wicket management doesnt always seem to be on t20s logical list of priorities but interestingly in all 11 matches won by sides chasing the victory margin has been at least 5 wickets this suggests wickets in hand is key to flip that around a side that loses wickets at regular intervals while chasing will probably end up losing but we knew that already during the heady days of odis didnt we3 big hitters who can finish a chase are crucialtheres a bit of background to this conclusion firstly theres little to choose between the side batting first and the one batting second in a match when it comes to run rates in the first 10 overs the averages for the first 5 overs are 78 runs per over versus 79 for overs 610 they are 81 and 78 for overs 1115 the gap widens a little at 74 versus 83 but the real difference is in overs 1620 where teams chasing have averaged 108 runs per over against just 87 runs