It is not easy to please Indian cricket fans; they are too demanding.
Not many seem to be willing to wager on the team winning the 2015 World
Cup - they may well settle for a victory over Pakistan in their opening
match at Adelaide Sunday.
On the eve of the match, India captain
Mahendra Singh Dhoni tried to assure the fans, saying his players can
absorb pressure as they have calm nerves and they have big-match
temperament.
Dhoni’s logic is that the pressure-cooker situations
in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and also playing in front of big
crowds have prepared his team for the World Cup.
What Dhoni does
not seem to realise is that it is not absorbing pressure, it is more
mounting it on the opponents. New Zealand and Australia have showed how a
team can bat the opposition out of the game.
Ironically, both
were invited to bat first by the overcautious Sri Lanka at Christchurch
and England at Melbourne. By the end of the first Power Play, the
matches were more or less settled with the required rate touching the
Twenty20 proportions.
Both New Zealand (331) and Australia (342)
have raised totals that might tempt other teams to bat straightaway
after winning the toss and found pitches playing tricks when they bowled
in the evening session. India can think of the matches when they set as
well as chase down the targets to beat Pakistan.
When the World
Cup was played in the Antipodes 23 years ago, India defended 216 by
bowling Pakistan out for 173. Those were the days when any total upwards
of 220 was considered defendable. That began a sequence of India
winning every time they played Pakistan in any World Cup, be it 50-over
or Twenty20.
Dhoni might feel better off bowling first to give
his not-so-potent attack the first use of the track. But then at
Adelaide the spinners might be in a better position to use the pitch. It
is going to be a big decision for the two captains.
Even the
usually not forgiving former India captains are willing to put their
money on the national side, but not the media. Many cite the team’s
performance in the series Down Under in the run up to the World Cup for
their apprehensions.
Yet, India could not have asked for a better
format and draw. Many in the cricket world believe that the format was
tweaked only to make sure India stayed in contention till the business
end of the tournament. The International Cricket Council (ICC) does not
want India to go out before the knockouts, a repeat of the 2007 World
Cup in the Caribbean.
India should be happy that Pakistan will be
out of their way straightaway. For all practical purposes it is going
to be the key game for more reasons than one. A win will definitely put
them on the road to the knockouts.
After that India will only
need two more good days of cricket to win the Cup. Don’t forget India
are the defending champions and Dhoni is the only captain who knows what
it means to be winning it, even if they are not the favourites.
Any number of doubts can be raised for India not winning, the pertinent ones are:
*
Can the bowling transform itself into a potent force after looking so
pedestrian in Tests as well as in the One-Day Internationals (ODI)?
* Can the batting make up for the bowling shortfall with no real match-winning bowler?
*
Can the fielders pick themselves up from a state which suggested that
they have slipped back to the olden days when they were rated the worst
in international cricket?
* Can the players rally round their
captain, like they did for Tendulkar to leave the international cricket
scene winning the World Cup?
* Finally does Dhoni have the motivation or inclination to carry the team in what could probably be the last World Cup for him?
Questions
can be unending when you don’t want to look at the virtues of the team.
One thing is for sure, India are not playing at home on pitches that
gave them a clear edge four years ago.
There is no point going
into the capabilities of individuals with the match hours away. The
players know what is expected of them and if most of the doubt-boxes are
ticked then you have the answer whether India can win the Cup.
Most
critics think that India will find it difficult to cope with the bounce
of the pitches in Australia and the seaming conditions in New Zealand.
But then every team exploits the home conditions just as India did in
2011.
Naturally, this time round, co-hosts Australia and New
Zealand are the favourites in the shortlist of bookies and the pundits.
They should be since they are playing in familiar conditions but that
does not automatically present them the Cup.
Remember, Australia,
South Africa and New Zealand are rated good to win the Cup only because
they did exceedingly well playing at home ahead of the mega event.
India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka struggled in alien conditions but surely
they would have gained a lot of experience.
(Veturi Srivatsa is a senior journalist. The views expressed are personal. He can be reached at [email protected])
