The Indian cricket team for the World Cup has been announced. There was not really any surprise but some eyebrows were raised because of a couple of selections. Is it a balanced squad? There are more bowlers who can bat in Shardul Thakur and Axar Patel. Is it a team that can win the World Cup? That is open to interpretation. Do the Indians have the personnel to play against the top teams? Does the team have enough firepower to offset the bowlers who may not be economical? Let me analyse the Indian team for the World Cup.
Most of the team have picked themselves. For Rohit Sharma, this will be his final opportunity as captain. If he fails to win the cup or at the least, qualify for the finals, his white-ball captaincy will be over. There is no doubt about that fact. Let us remember that Hardik Pandya has been named as his deputy. It clearly is a sign that if Rohit slips, Pandya is ready to takeover. Rohit can hope to extend his white-ball career only if he scores runs personally and takes India into the final. Otherwise, both will come to an end. He had a fabulous 2019 where he scored 5 hundreds but it did not matter in the end because he failed in the important semi-final against New Zealand.
Some selections raised eye-brows
The selection of Shubman Gill and Surya Yadav certainly raised some questions. Surya in this format is an unknown commodity. He is a stalwart in T20 but in ODIs, he is somewhat of a misfit. He hasn’t covered himself with glory though he has played a decent number of games but has not really gone onto register significant innings. Surya is known for his destructive capabilities but in ODIs, his strike rate is just above 100. The way the game has been played over the last few years, for someone to score at just over 100 and that too towards the closing stages of the innings, that leaves a lot to be desired about his ability.
Just like Shreyas Iyer, he also has a weakness against the short-ball. Once he is up against a quality bowling attack, he will probably struggle. All of these make his selection somewhat of a gamble. The selectors weren’t having too many options I guess. For that, they do not have anyone to blame but themselves. I understand that there is a new selection committee under Ajit Agarkar and he could not have done much but the fault lies with the board for not producing enough quality players.
Gill’s 3rd World Cup
Gill is another who must consider himself lucky. All those years ago, VVS Laxman, a batsman who had much more talent than Gill, never played a single World Cup game. His fitness, running between the wickets and his slowness were all cited as reasons but in the case of Gill, his capability to bat against good bowling itself is under the microscope. The other day, against the likes of Haseen Shah and Afridi, only a miracle saved Gill from getting out in the first couple of overs because he was unsure which way the ball was going to move. If India does qualify for the semi, he will have to face more of the same quality of bowling. How is he going to cope? This will be his 3rd alongwith the two WTC finals. Will he make this one count?
Not much different from 2019
The problem of number 4 still remains. This was the same problem that India had in 2019 and 4 years hence, it has not gone away. It was ridiculous to see the team management experiment with the team just a few weeks ago. The selectors, the board and the team management must be blamed for this sorry state of affairs. Shreyas Iyer is the designated batsman at number 4 but everyone realises his shortcoming. Not just that, we also have a problem with number 5. If Rahul is fit, he does have the capability to smash the bowling from that position. However, after a few months of no cricketing action, he must be rusty come the World Cup.
The emergence of Ishan Kishan is a good problem to have. I will not hesitate to make him open instead of Gill. The fact that he is left-handed will make the bowlers change their line and length. It will help in off-setting the rhythm of an Afridi or Naseem Shah.
Posting totals and defending small totals
Does this side have the power to post strong totals? England have set a standard in which 300 is the minimum score. They usually end up with much more than that. Australia too are known for their aggressive batting though not on the same scale as England. Pakistan too is not afraid to take risks at the top. However, India, with Gill at the top and Rohit not being a flamboyant batsman, is weak at the top. Neither of them is capable of moving the score at a breakneck speed. Rohit for his nature, has tried to change his game but in doing so, he gets out quickly without going onto post an impressive score.
Except for Pandya and to a certain extent, Jadeja, the rest are not really capable of taking the team to 350 and beyond. With the bowlers not being able to contribute anything, the team will be hardpressed to post 300.
Wrapping up Indian Team for the World Cup
Overall, the team does not look solid enough. The bowlers cannot defend totals below 250 and the batsmen cannot score more than 350. Dhoni somehow managed to win with an even poorer bowling attack. The one saving grace in the tournament will be that the pitches will be handled by the ICC. They usually give some sort of assistance to the bowlers to make the game more even. Hence, I do not think we will see scores in the region of 350. Perhaps, 300-325 will be a winning score.
England and Australia will certainly make the final 4. It will tussle between India, Pakistan, New Zealand and perhaps even South Africa for the remaining slots.