India In World Cup: Metamorphosis

It’s a transformed Indian team that we are watching the ICC World Cup. In fact, it could even win the Cup

Was India’s dismal performance at the Carlton Mid-day Tri-Series a strategic conspiracy to conceal the Men in Blue’s plans for the ICC World Cup 2015?

Is black magic the reason why most Indian players are performing the way they are?

Battered in the tri-series, how did skipper M.S. Dhoni become so belligerent with his field settings while passing the Kookaburra from one bowler to another?

The team’s wobble against West Indies notwithstanding, why is it that most viewers seem to ‘know’ that only New Zealand steered by Brendon McCullum appear capable of stopping the inspired Indian juggernaut in this World Cup?

Such has been the transition of the squad that was hurtling from one defeat to another recently that questions, both outright frivolous and astonishingly meaningful, must be acknowledged as the response of the typical Indian fan. In a game governed by unforeseeable factors, however, one must not forget that one bad day on the field or the tyranny of the Duckworth-Lewis method with the team at the wrong end can derail its progress in the knockout stages.

What Team India has already done is surprise the cynic who would have manufactured yarns of vitriol-dipped prose and hurled it on the impressionable viewer through television as well as websites and periodicals had India lost to Pakistan.  That they beat them by 76 runs proved to be the energizer they were looking for. So what if the present-day Pakistan team led by a half-century accumulator named Misbah-ul-Haq is so bereft of talent that the presence of a jaded veteran like Younis Khan is arguably mandatory?

The tie allowed Shikhar Dhawan to rediscover his touch which was till then in hibernation; Virat Kohli scored a fine if not typically authoritative century, while Suresh Raina demoralized the bowlers with a power-packed rude knock to set a solid target that was beyond the reach of the Pakistani line-up. Predictably, the bowlers led by a miserly Mohammed Shami dismissed the last batsman with three overs left.

Defeating Pakistan is not an earth-shattering outcome. But the baggage of shared history is such that every win seems like a monumental triumph until the next one comes along. Those who insisted that we must not view it as the World Cup title were absolutely correct.  At the same time, what the Indian team desperately required was a convincing verdict to believe that it was participating in the World Cup with an eye on the trophy instead of reaching the knockout stages and getting knocked out right away. After it materialized, almost every Indian player promised to deliver his role in modern-day cricket’s most coveted four-yearly show of talent and performance.

Think of this. India had dismissed West Indies for 182, and a win seemed inevitable when Dhawan and Rohit Sharma walked out to bat. What happened thereafter? The top four got out with the score reading 78, and it was Dhoni’s finishing act that took the team past the finishing line. Because of the focus on Dhoni and Shami who was brilliant with the ball, two equally important features of this match were partly sidetracked.

West Indies may not have an army of batting geniuses, but too much focus on the mercurial bully Chris Gayle distracts us from worrying about a few others who can get a few and, at times, much more. Marlon Samuels can score steadily, Lendl Simmons isn’t absolutely useless, while Darren Sammy and Andre Russell can massacre the opposition’s attack for a while on their good days. Not just Shami but the entire Indian bowling attack didn’t permit them to get starts, one exception being Sammy who got 26 but from 55 balls! Young skipper Jason Holder scored a reasonably brisk 57, which allowed them to reach 182, an unthreatening goal for India whose batting line-up almost let them down.

The fielding. India have a few world class fielders who can be trusted to take brilliant catches, hit the stumps or at least throw the ball which the bowler or keeper Dhoni can collect with ease and take the bails off to pull off fast run-outs. Ravindra Jadeja, Ajinkya Rahane, Sharma, Kohli and Raina are among them. Even Mohit Sharma who has turned out to be an asset with the ball is a fine fielder in the deep.

On that day, many Indian fielders dropped catches that they would have taken while sharing puerile jokes during practice sessions. Had that not happened, the West Indians would have failed to reach the meagre score they eventually did. Such poor catching was an aberration. What it also showed is that Indian bowlers had performed even better than their fine figures actually showed.

India walked all over UAE. A weak team was mauled by a strong one whose collective potential appears to have peaked. That’s why. Where its talent truly showed was in its win against South Africa, one of the stronger outfits whose loss against Pakistan was shocking.

Against Misbah’s team, the margin of defeat wasn’t much. Against India, however, the Proteas seemed as clueless as UAE.

Perennially criticized for its ineptitude outside the subcontinent, all Indians except Umesh Yadav who had an off day were miserly and penetrative against South Africa. Because of the perfect start given by the accuracy of the pacers, and spinners anchored by Ravichandran Ashwin tightening the noose in the middle overs, Dhoni has been able to set aggressive fields without having to worry about giving away easy runs in the middle overs.

Against South Africa, the story was no different. This transformation couldn’t have taken place without elaborate strategizing. How and when that happened is a mystery. Trying to chase down a target of 308, the Proteas were bundled out for 177, the distance far away.

India’s batting problem has been the lower middle order. An excellent fielder in good form with the ball, Jadeja is no protean genius as his triple hundreds in domestic cricket suggest.  Dhoni hasn’t hidden his disappointment with him, and that too during the post-match presentation. Dhoni has bailed the team out of crisis in one innings; yet, he himself hasn’t done anything else of consequence in his two other outings with the bat.

Some others in the batting line-up can do far better as well. Rahane played a superb knock against South Africa, but he doesn’t have anything to show beyond that either. If one doesn’t take his half-century against UAE seriously, Sharma’s wait for his first big knock continues. Likewise, Raina has been a one-knock man so far.

When the World Cup began, India had given rise to apprehensions that they wouldn’t progress beyond the last eight. Now, the script has changed since the team is performing as a unit. The fielding was terrible on one day, a memory that promises to be a lesson for the future. The bowlers have been excellent. That is important for the team if it aspires to be a good traveler even after the tournament ends. Some batsmen have been erratic, but getting runs has never been a problem apart from that one day against the West Indies that Team India must not forget.

Cricket’s unpredictable nature doesn’t allow us to predict with a reasonable degree of certainty. But, the manner in which India performed in the tri-series and its quality of performance in this World Cup are surely different.

Before watching each match in the tri-series, we expected a failure. Today, India have redefined our expectations from them. That it has happened less than a month later is a small triumph in itself.