Leaving aside the injuries, India’s World Cup campaign has got off to the best possible start. The only unbeaten side other than New Zealand almost halfway into the league stage, they have not secured a semifinal spot yet. But going by the looks of it, it appears a matter of time before they do that. Up against a team which has lost all five matches so far,it’s a golden chance for them to inch closer.
Ravaged by internal discontent involving players and a tiff between the coach and the cricket board, Afghanistan on paper is a disjointed lot. Tipped to cause an upset or two, they have not come close to that and the manner of the defeats has been deflating. For them to put it across India, it will take perhaps the biggest upset in the history of the World Cup. But then, for a team dreaming big, these games are not necessarily easy. More than the opposition, these games are sometimes a battle against internal enemies like complacency. Having beaten South Africa, Australia and Pakistan without much trouble, an opponent like Afghanistan can cause a dip in concentration and intensity. The World Cup has seen such instances over the editions, India versus West Indies twice in 1983 being among the biggest examples.
So for Virat Kolhi’s men, Saturday’s match is as much against another team as against themselves. “Being professionals, it’s very important to keep improving and get better every day. That is the only thing which each and every individual think about. If we keep getting better, we can set ourselves better standards every game. So it’s not about against whom we’re playing. It’s about how we play as individuals,” said Vijay Shankar on Friday.
Himself among those carrying niggles, the all-rounder said he was hopeful of playing this game. The team did not practise a day before the game, which means in the five-day gap between this one and the previous one, there were just two days when they had nets. Whether this is thoughtful planning looking at the bigger picture or a sign of taking the immediate opponent lightly time will tell.
Looking at how things have gone so far, it is clear that India’s top-order has done exceedingly well and not let the holes in the middle become visible. In all three matches, one of the openers hit centuries, with Virat Kohli also being among the runs at No 3. This has not let the middle-order come under pressure. There has been no game where India lost two wickets inside the first 10 overs. At some stage in a long tournament that is likely to happen and that’s when they will face a new test.
That said, Afghanistan is not among the teams tipped to test India on that front. They rely mostly on spinners and after an impressive Asia Cup outing last year where their match against India ended in a tie, they have been caught on unfamiliar territory in England. Poster boy and trump card Rashid Khan has entered the record books for the most expensive spell. The batting has not fired either and with Sri Lanka, they are the other team yet to cross 250 in the tournament.
Saying “no comments” to questions on internal problems in the team, Afghanistan captain Gulbadin Naib said, “We expect India to come hard at us. If you look at the games we played, we didn’t do well. But we’re trying to put things together.” One can feel for this team, whose rise from nowhere had been one of the stories of world cricket over the last few years. Unfortunately for Gulbadin & Co, they run into a team eager to script its own story. Strange things have happened, but to not see a ruthless India against an opponent low on morale will be a surprise.
