Winning, yet wanting: India beat Netherlands to maintain all-win record but batting fluency remains elusive
The team need not worry because Abhishek came to the World Cup in too-good-to-be-true form. Abhishek not only batted at a rate of 200 but was scoring in almost every innings. In that sense, it was statistically normal for him to endure a period where no matter what he tried, the runs wouldn’t come. Even then three ducks is a pretty extreme event
This will worry Abhishek. No matter how much he knows the team is backing him and he won’t be dropped, he will still want the familiar feeling of kicking the ball and then having it disappear into the stands.
Abhishek’s lack of runs has definitely affected the overall performance of the batting unit. While there is so much depth that one man scoring a goal doesn’t make the difference between winning and losing – at least until now – there has been a feeling that something is missing.
India was not very fluid in the sense of all the parts coming together into a single whole. In the first match of the season against the USA, India had enough players on the field for them to recalibrate. However, Suryakumar Yadav saved the team by giving a masterclass in adapting to conditions and playing the ball late.
But this was understandable. India had played on very correct pitches in the two series leading up to the World Cup and the sudden change of surface was bound to lead to a misstep.
Then there were still suspicions against Namibia. However, this was attributed to the lack of pace in the opposition bowling. Against Pakistan, the runs were on after they started the batting, but here again something went wrong. Ishan Kishan played in his own skin, scoring at a clip that no one from either team could emulate. Kishan’s innings came amidst Tilak Varma’s struggle to time the ball fluently and even Surya could not come to terms with the Premadasa Stadium and perhaps the novelty of Usman Tariq’s bowling action. A mixture of breaks, leg breaks and bowlers, all carried out through stop-start action, meant that batsmen could not quite line up the bowler and be ready to take the full toll when the opportunity arose.
In their last match against the Netherlands, they again made the difference between a fair score and a good score with an unconventional shot. Shivam Dube’s long arms came to the rescue and his aggressive batting in the end of the innings ensured that India hit another run from the bowling that they would have no trouble defending.
At the end of the first round, the points table will show that India is superior. This shows how strong the team is and why it is rated so highly. India are the favorites for this tournament because they have enough firepower to come out on top even if they are not at their best batting.
In that sense, India will not mind how the tournament has gone so far. Things went on with the right results in the bag and each time they found a different person good enough to elevate the game and take them over the line.
But there’s less room for that in Super 8s. A wrong step can be punished much more severely and there will be additional pressure in the back of the mind that they need to win every match. And in the meantime, they hope their batting unit gains fluidity and sings.
On that day, Surya will be a little more relaxed because the pressure on the bowling unit will decrease a little. There will definitely come a time when the bowlers have an off day or an opposition batsman runs out. And if India’s batting is not firing on all cylinders, the outcome could be completely different.
