ICC World T-20,India vs West Indies:India's faltering batsmen face their toughest test yet against rampaging West Indies

It would be an understatement to say that the Indian cricket team hasn't performed to its potential so far in the 2016 World T20. Right from the first game, the batsmen in particular have underperformed, leaving it up to luck or an exceptional showing from one or two players to rescue them.

This performance is a matter of concern not just with regard to the World T20, but also in context of the future of Indian cricket. These players who are failing on the big stage are established stars already; a lot of time and effort has been invested in them, with the expectation that they will carry the torch of Indian cricket forward - in T20s as well as Tests.



You don't want to be putting your faith in players who are going to squander it on the big stages. That's just not a healthy state of affairs for Indian cricket.

 

Indian batsmen are in a vicious cycle of bad form and bad results

MS Dhoni knows very well how disappointing the Indian batting has been so far. And while he would have tried everything in his power to get the batsmen out of their funk, sometimes bad form can turn into a vicious cycle.

The pitch in Mohali wasn't the flattest, but it wasn't slow and low like the ones in Nagpur and Kolkata either. And yet, you could see that Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan and Suresh Raina were under immense pressure because of their recent failures, which translated into nervousness on the crease.

Yuvraj Singh was clearly struggling for form too, and to make matters worse he couldn't even run hard between the wickets. That seemed to be a matter of great frustration for Kohli, who was even heard on the stump mic saying something to the effect, "Come on Yuvraj!"

This is a bit of a Catch-22 situation for the Indian batsmen. They know they don't have many runs under their belt so there's pressure on them to perform, which in turn prevents them from playing their natural game. That then makes them tentative with their strokes, thus increasing the likelihood of their dismissal.

The venue of India's semifinal, the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai, has produced absolute belters in the three games played there in the tournament. But is that a guarantee that the Indian batsmen will fire?

( Originally Published in Sportskeeda)

Right now there are not so many doubts in their minds that it's not even funny. They are afraid of being aggressive, they are unsure of their timing, and they are not even confident that their place in the team is secure.

 

Virat Kohli – the man who has stood tall amongst the ruins

Amidst all the uncertainty in the Indian lineup, the one thing that we have been able to count on is Kohli's composure. Needless to say, his performance against Australia was absolutely out of the world, and he has almost turned into a one-man army for the team.

There have been a lot of comparisons between Kohli and AB de Villiers, and even Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar lately. But I feel Kohli cannot be compared to any one batsman - he has features and skills that all the greatest batsmen in recent times have possessed.

He can hit the ball big like Chris Gayle, can drive sweetly through the off side like Sourav Ganguly, can play classy touch shots like Tendulkar, and can even take a ball from outside off-stump and hit it to the mid-wicket boundary the way VVS Laxman did.

Maybe he doesn't hit reverse sweeps and scoop shots like De Villiers, but there's a reason for that. Kohli is the kind of batsman who wants to eliminate risk as far as possible. He will try to hit forceful strokes down the ground that are guaranteed to fetch a single or a two, and the ones that are timed to perfection even go to the boundary.

But taking unnecessary risks and hitting improvised shots is not Kohli's game. Some would call that a deficiency in his batting, but to me it is a mark of how mature he is in his approach - whether it's a Test match or a T20.

Perhaps the most remarkable thing about Kohli is the way he turns the bowler's greatest weapon into a liability. We saw how he dismantled the Lasith Malinga yorker a few years ago, and against Australia he turned James Faulkner's deadly slower ball into a lollipop delivery.

By turning the bowler's strength against him, he establishes a level of control over the match that no other batsman can rival. That, to me, places Kohli in a very rarefied air. And if he manages to do well in the semifinal and final, he could possibly make up for the failures of the other batsmen again.

 

The big question – is it finally time for Rahane to get a game?

There has been a lot of speculation about Yuvraj Singh's availability for the semifinal, and Manish Pandey has already been called as a cover for him. That has posed an interesting dilemma for Dhoni: should he play Rahane as an opener or in the middle order? Alternatively, should he instead go for Pandey who is a natural fit lower down the order?

If Yuvraj is indeed not fit for the game, then Rahane should come in at No. 4 and Raina should be pushed down to No. 5. Raina is not a No. 4 player; he looks confused when he comes in at that position, and doesn't seem to know how to play the 'consolidating' role.

When Raina comes in at No. 3, usually during the powerplay overs, he knows he has no option but to go for his shots. So even if someone bowls short at him, he goes after it and manages to send it to the boundary more often than not.

But at No. 4, after the powerplays are done, Raina doesn't seem confident of attacking the short ball. And in his attempt to fend it off, he usually ends up giving his wicket away.

At No. 5 or No. 6 it again becomes a different proposition. With quick runs needed, he looks to take on the bowlers instead of fending them off, which places him in much better stead to survive.

That means Rahane at No. 4 would be a far better option. The classy batsman knows how to rotate the strike and can keep the scoreboard ticking in company with someone like Kohli.

 Yuvraj will not want to sit out the semifinal. Even if he's 80% or 90% fit, he will want to go out there and give his best for his country. This is the World Cup semifinal, and he wouldn't want to miss an opportunity to play in it.

Yes, Yuvraj cost India a little with his slow running during the match against Australia, but he also held up one end and prevented the batting from collapsing completely. He is perhaps not the kind of batsman who can score at a strike rate of 150-160 anymore, but he is still valuable as a player who can give support to the likes of Kohli and Dhoni whenever needed.

Besides, Yuvraj can bowl too, even though he hasn't been fully utilized by Dhoni this tournament. All said and done, I think Yuvraj will do everything in his power to get fit in time for the match. He still has one day to recover, and come Thursday I am pretty confident we will see his name on the starting lineup.

 

Prediction: India can't afford to take West Indies lightly

While the pitch at the Wankhede has been batsman-friendly so far, there's no guarantee that it will remain that way. Wherever India has gone this tournament, the pitch has turned slow and low. So there's no saying what will greet the players when they turn up on the field on Thursday.

Irrespective of the kind of pitch though, it's a no-brainer that Ravichandran Ashwin has to bowl at Chris Gayle at the very start. If Gayle has one weakness, it is facing the ball that moves away from him at the start of his innings. We've seen how much success Ashwin has had by bowling early against the Jamaican in the IPL, and there's no chance Dhoni won't look to use that tactic again.

Gayle doesn't move his feet a lot when he's just come in, but he gets better with every minute he spends at the crease. If India is to win this match, they absolutely have to get Gayle out early. And the best way of doing that is by unleashing Ashwin on him.

But even aside from Gayle, there are a lot of players in this West Indian side who are capable of hurting India. Their players seem to be born for T20 cricket, and they have spent years travelling around the world, playing in different leagues and honing their skills to perfection.

The likes of Bravo, Russell, Samuels, Sammy are tall and strong, and they can hit the ball big. Even if they are not the best at rotating the strike, they can make up for that with their ferocious boundaries. Most of the West Indies' players have the X-factor that can turn a game on its head in a matter of minutes.

There are two other factors in their favour on Thursday. For one thing, they have played a match in Mumbai already so they are familiar with the conditions. Secondly, their captain Darren Sammy is an astute leader who knows how to manage his players well.

West Indies may not look like the best side on paper, but they are actually more coordinated and attuned to T20 cricket than all of India's previous opponents. They have also played a lot of cricket in the IPL, so they know what to expect from the grounds and from the Indian players.

While they have come into the semifinal on the back of three wins, all of those victories were by very small margins. Moreover, except for New Zealand, all of their opponents failed to bring their best cricket - Bangladesh choked, Pakistan's batting failed to attack enough, and Australia couldn't quite get their team combination right.

West Indies don't seem likely to have any such problems. They have a power-packed batting lineup, but they've got the other departments covered too. The bowling has been fantastic - Samuel Badree has been economical in the powerplays, Dwayne Bravo has been exceptional with his slower balls, and Andre Russell and Carlos Brathwaite have been really good too. Even their fielding, traditionally a weak point of the Caribbean cricketers, has been top-notch so far.

India definitely has a lot to fear when they take the field on Thursday. To my mind, this is easily the toughest test that India has had to face in the tournament so far. It seems that both teams have a 50% chance of winning.



Originally Published in Sportskeeda (By Mohammad Kaif ) 

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