A lot has been spoken about how heavily India depend on the top three and how efficient a job these batsmen have done to help the team reach the World Cup semifinal. Rohit Sharma has obviously been the cynosure. He has said during the course of the competition that the openers and Virat Kohli make it a point to bat till as long as possible.
This approach is manifest accurately in statistics. In the eight matches India have played, they batted a total of 391 overs or 2,346 deliveries. The top three have faced 1658 of those, which comes to 70.37 per cent. Rohit has played 655 deliveries, Kohli 465, KL Rahul 417 as an opener (not counting South Africa match where he batted No 4) and Shikhar Dhawan 121. No surprise then that the top three have accounted for 1643 of the 2295 runs scored by the team — 71.59 per cent.
There is prudence in this ploy, considering the shaky nature of the batting line-up No 4 downwards. Winning seven of eight games and crossing 300 on four occasions shows that this has come off. But it also suggests overdependence on the top and a lack of faith in those coming in to bat after them. Whether this can backfire once or twice in the course of a long tournament has to be seen. That this part of the batting line-up has not been tested yet can encourage opponents. However, as long as that doesn’t happen, India will be smiling at the end.
Of the other three teams in the semifinals, Australia have had openers facing a lion’s share of the deliveries. David Warner and Aaron Finch together have faced 1209 balls, nearly 202 overs. But they have also had Usman Khawaja, Steve Smith and Alex Carey bat more than 160 overs. The distribution of balls faced is more even between the top three and middle-order players for England and New Zealand. None of these teams are as dependent on the top as India. Of the 17 fifty-plus scores by Indians so far, just two have come from those batting below three.
But that is a ploy this team has been following. The top three will face as many deliveries as possible and then try and be there in the middle till at least till the 30th over. “A lot of batting has been done by the top three, so we want to make sure that we try to bat as long as we possibly can. We want to make the partnerships big, that is the idea. If we get in, we will try and go deep into the innings, so that those coming in afterwards can play their shots,” was what Rohit had said after the England match.
The only catch with this plan is what if it doesn’t come off when it is really needed to? Sure this is something noticed by others and Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur was saying before the India match that getting early wickets is the key against Kohli’s men. His team did not manage those in that game but the ball did fly off the edge a few times in the early overs. With that time of the tournament coming when minimising errors becomes crucial, India’s strength and weakness are crystal clear. It’s up to them and the opponents to see which part is more visible.