The Indian team for this year’s cricket World Cup is out, and everyone has an opinion. Rightly so. In a country with freedom of speech, why not? Opinions are divided, but the passion unites us. That is what drives the nation, and for a tournament that takes place every four years, the importance of it grows manifold. To add to the spice, it is a home tournament for us Indian fans. We all remember what happened the last time India had home advantage in the 2011 World Cup.
Personally, I am happy with the team. Yes, we don’t have a right-arm spinner and we have three bowling with the left hand. I would have loved to see R Ashwin in the mix. He is a genuine wicket-taker and, for me, my five bowlers have to be wicket-takers. Or else, you are looking at 350-plus in every game. Ashwin has the ability to get top-class batters out on good wickets. He is more than handy with the bat – his five Test hundreds stand testament to that. Under pressure, he always delivers with the bat as we saw in that crucial T20 World Cup game against Pakistan. The pressure clearly got to Dinesh Karthik, a seasoned campaigner, but Ashwin remained as cool as a cucumber in a very tricky situation. That comes from the knowledge that he had the skill set in his repertoire and had practised that thousands of times to be able to hold his own on days like that. There was also the confidence he had from having been one of Indian cricket’s greatest match-winners. Also, the fact that his main skill set is bowling takes that much pressure off him as a batter. That match against Pakistan in the T20 World Cup was all about Virat Kohli, and rightly so, but there would have been no story without that little shimmy on the leg side and hitting a length ball from a quality spinner over mid-off. I can assure you that it was not an easy shot to hit, even in the nets with no game pressure.
Moving on, 12 or 13 pick themselves. KL Rahul would always be in my Indian team in any format if fit and in form. Shreyas Iyer’s fitness issues continue to linger, and it will be worth watching to see whether the selectors risk a spot over a month-and-a-half-long tournament with a player whose dodgy back keeps playing up. If he is fit, he is a certainty.
Now, the interesting part. The team is in place and, for me, it’s the form of these players that takes precedence. Yes, the daddy players are always in, barring injuries. They need to take the load off this team, and if they do, India will come out with flying colours. Let me throw out some numbers for you. In the 2007 T20 World Cup that India won, there were a few players who had quiet tournaments. But Gautam Gambhir (221 runs, average 37.83, SR 130), MS Dhoni (154 runs, average 30.08, SR 128) and Yuvraj Singh (148 runs, average 29.60, SR 194) with the bat, and RP Singh (12 wickets, 6.33 economy, average 12.66) and Irfan Pathan (10 wickets, 6.77 economy, 14.90 average) with the ball were exceptional.
In the 50-over version, the number of players that you need to strike a purple patch goes up. More balls per innings, and a longer tournament means that you need more than just a couple to hit the straps quickly. In the 2011 World Cup, Yuvraj (420 runs at an average of 90 and a SR of 86.19, alongside 15 wickets at 25 apiece, and an economy rate of 4.65), Sachin Tendulkar (524 runs at 53 per innings, SR 91.98), Gambhir (393 runs at 44 per inning, SR 85), Virender Sehwag ( 310 runs at 48 per inning, SR 122.58) and MS Dhoni (241 runs at 48 per inning, SR 81.69) led the way with the bat, while Zaheer Khan (21 wkts at 19 apiece, economy 4.83) and Munaf Patel (11 wkts at 32 apiece, economy 5.36) were on fire with the ball, ably supported by the likes of Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli, Ashish Nehra and Harbhajan Singh. That was what won India the trophy.
The point I am trying to make here is that not everyone in the 11 or 15 will win you the cup. Never has, and never will. So once the team is set, it’s of great importance that the management makes sure in the lead-up to the World Cup that the players are in the best form. This recently concluded Asia Cup has given us a lot of positive signals, and I would say that Rahul Dravid and Rohit Sharma are much happier men. That is not only because they have the trophy tucked away, but also courtesy finding a lot of the answers they were looking for. Players returning from injury hit form, players batting out of position performed, and when the top order failed, a newish looking middle order bailed India out. A few men go into their first World Cup in the form of their lives. Kuldeep Yadav, now established as the premier wrist spinner, looked really good and the fast-bowling unit has been on fire. It wasn’t the sternest of tests – that starts on September 22 against Australia, just the team you want to play before you start your World Cup campaign.
For Indian cricket, this remains the tournament that changed everything, and there has been many a slip between the cup and the lip. With the Rohit-Kohli generation nearing the end, this is one we can ill afford.