With solid England wins, India looks poised for T20, ODI World Cups

With World Cups in the 20- and 50-over formats looming over the next 15 months, India were presented with a glorious opportunity to test their credentials against one of the most bruising, unforgiving limited-overs sides in world cricket. Rohit Sharma’s men aced the England test in some style, registering identical 2-1 victories in both white-ball versions to reassure themselves that their march towards the Promised Land is on the right track.

The immediate focus, of course, is the T20 World Cup in Australia in October-November. After their sorry implosion in the UAE last year, India have made a paradigm shift in their approach to the 20-over game, shedding the conservatism that ushered them out of the tournament at the first time of asking and embracing the adventurism that has now made them such an irresistible, compelling force.

That the Indian Premier League throws up numerous options each year means the decision-makers have a truly overflowing pool of multi-talented and multi-dimensional players to choose from.

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Rohit and head coach Rahul Dravid have a plethora of choices for each position and will begin the pruning process in right earnest during the five-match series against West Indies in the Caribbean and the US later this month.

After this skirmish, they only have the Asia Cup (most likely in the UAE) and a three-match home series against Australia as final prep exercises, and they can’t afford to keep experimenting and seeking out greater variety any longer.

Chinks in ODI team

The 50-over World Cup, in their own backyard, is still 15 months away and it’s understandable that attention towards that event will magnify only after this November, but the England victory threw up several early pointers that the meticulous Dravid will have taken note of.

While there is every reason for the stakeholders of Indian cricket to rejoice in the conquest of the defending 50-over World Cup champions, and that too on their own turf, numerous problem areas need addressing if India are to harbour ambitions of going all the way like they did in 2011, under the masterly stewardship of Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

For all their commitment to a modern and multi-hued approach to 20-over cricket, India’s 50-over play seems mired in the archaic. That is particularly reflective in the kind of personnel the selectors are forced to pick.

A memorable #ENGvIND tour for #TeamIndia as we finish it on a winning note. 🙌 🙌 pic.twitter.com/cxPLXpoBvh

— BCCI (@BCCI) July 17, 2022

The seam-bowling-all-rounder is a particularly sought-after weapon in Indian cricket, and while Hardik Pandya fits the bill perfectly when he is able to bowl with venom like he has over the last few months, India can ill afford for their specialist bowlers not to be able to contribute with the bat at all.

Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja lend tremendous balance and weight to the batting group, both men capable of sending down 10 overs on a good day. While they offer depth at Nos. 6 and 7, this series has opened Indian eyes to the desperate need for the specialist bowlers to be able to chip in with runs on the odd occasion when the situation so demands.

The five specialist bowlers India employed in the three ODIs – Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna and Yuzvendra Chahal – hardly instill the hope and belief that they are good for even 10-15 runs each. Contrast this with the English side, which bats till No. 10 with the likes of David Willey, Craig Overton and Brydon Carse all capable of weighing in with quick, crucial runs, and a picture of a work still in progress emerges clearly.

India’s ODI approach is a throwback to an era where batsmen only batted and bowlers only bowled. Pandya apart, no one in the top six is worth even a few token overs; Jadeja aside, the bowling group has no batting heft to write home about.

With all limited-overs formats rapidly veering towards cricketers who have at least two strings to their bow, India must use the time between now and next October to unearth, groom, polish, nurture and embolden all-rounders.

It’s probable that in India, spin more than pace will do the trick and the team is in a good position to summon spinning all-rounders such as Axar Patel, Washington Sundar and Krunal Pandya, but it’s imperative that those in decision-making capacities don’t miss the forest for the trees.

Top order troubles

Equally worryingly, Reece Topley exposed the Indian top-order’s fallibility against quality left-arm pace bowling all over again. In important games, India have been opened up by Pakistan’s Mohammad Amir (Champions Trophy final, 2017) and Shaheen Shah Afridi (T20 World Cup, 2021).

In keeping with that tradition, the strapping Topley took six wickets in the second ODI at Lord’s and the first three in the decider in Manchester on Sunday. That these three answer to the name of Rohit, Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli, all vastly experienced with nearly 40 combined years of experience of international cricket, is extremely concerning.

Kohli’s run of poor form, and a sameness to his dismissals, hanging his bat out to dry and being caught behind the stumps off innocuous deliveries, has stretched too long for frown lines not to crease foreheads, though there was some succour for the beleaguered team management with Pandya and Rishabh Pant pulling the fat out of the fire at Old Trafford.

With a rollicking fifth-wicket alliance, they spectacularly overturned a losing cause into the most emphatic of victories, going a long way towards proving that there is more to Indian batting than just the top three.

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The coming of age of Pant, whose maiden ODI hundred was a glowing tribute to his ever increasing maturity, game awareness and situational understanding, has to be as big a takeaway as the fact that the bowling group was at its penetrative, incisive best all the way through.

To bowl a formidable England batting unit out for totals of 110, 246 and 259 speaks volumes of the skillset of the varied Indian bowling attack with Bumrah as the spearhead and peerless leg-spinner Chahal performing at his optimal best.

England have made a killing out of reducing the opposition to pulp with their inexorable aggression — only last month, they rattled up 498 against Netherlands — so for India to keep them in check with a big tick in the positives’ column.

As was the fact that India quickly hit their straps in their first ODI series since February. But there is much work ahead, and perhaps in that lies the excitement for Rohit and Dravid.