After the initial spiritless action that evoked a big yawn, the World Cup has seen some keen, close contests as one would expect from cricket’s major event that will decide which is the champion one-day side.
Australia, without doubt, have been the standout team, with India not far behind. The favourites tag has been removed from England and been pinned jointly on Australia and India. There is as much to rejoice at India’s performance as there is to worry. Expectedly, they have made the semifinals and now are just two wins short of winning the championship. India’s strength, its bowling, that had displayed its formidable fire-power so well, was brutally exposed by an England side that was on the edge of being eliminated from the tournament.
That match showed India were not an invincible side and a ruthless batting brigade can destroy the calm assurance of its bowlers and wreck their wicket-taking and run-restricting abilities. The most telling blow that England batsmen delivered was of breaking India’s wrist spin dominance of the middle overs. Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav have been the lynchpins of India’s bowling and much of the control they exercise over their rivals in the middle overs has had to do with this spinning duo’s wide-ranging skills. Their getting smashed to pulp has forced India to rethink their strategy, making them drop Kuldeep in the next match.
The break-up of this lethal pair is not good news for India as they were the main weapons with which they were dictating terms at a stage when batsmen try to consolidate without losing wickets. However, the good news is that Jasprit Bumrah is continuing to bowl with a venom, accuracy and pace that make him the most dangerous death bowler in the world. His yorkers match the toe-crushers of Waqar Younis at his best. He has been unplayable in the slog overs. But for him, India could have been in trouble in this tournament, finding it difficult to ease into the semifinals.
Equally worrisome has been the middle-lower order batting displays by India in England, where they have found it difficult to remain ahead of the desired run-rates. It won’t be wrong to say that India’s batting underbelly has a soft side to it. The repeated lower batting order shuffle is a reflection of a confusion forced by Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s inability to pace his innings according to the given situation.
Dhoni is a master of run-chases and most often in the past he has timed his onslaughts to perfection. Somehow in this World Cup, despite his making runs, the assurance that Dhoni is at the crease and all is well with the Indian team is missing. Is he now an innings builder, someone who consolidates, or a finisher?
Injury to Dhawan has, all of a sudden, created an uncertainty in the lower order that is hurting India. KL Rahul’s elevation has left a void in the middle and put a question mark on India’s capacity to boost its scoring rate in the slog overs. What has also not helped is Virat Kohli so far being far from his masterly best. It is unusual to see him repeatedly lose his wicket without scoring big. Hopefully, the semifinal and final would see him back at his disdainful best.
India have survived so far on Rohit’s batting feats. He is the one who has single-handedly kept India in the hunt but as the competition gets tougher India suddenly appear more vulnerable than they were at the start of the tournament.