The firecrackers are now in our closets. Come Sunday, we will see a sea of blue with a tinge of green when holders take on the contenders at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Australia. The International Cricket Council’s World Cup 2015 has never had such a fiery start. Australia versus England, followed by India playing Pakistan, has set the bar from a spectator perspective. Sunday’s game between India and South Africa will be the crowning glory of the opening phase.
India has looked like they are back on the track with an intense performance against old foes Pakistan. The win has now put more pressure on them to continue their winning streak and beat favourites South Africa. The dice though, is loaded in favour of the Proteas who have Gary ‘Gaza’ Kirsten directing the moves of a talented team. If one does a head-to-head comparison between the two teams, the Proteas will undoubtedly walk away as winners.
New tricks needed
Indian skipper MS Dhoni will need to bundle a few rabbits in his hat when he steps out to toss with AB de Villiers at the MCG. Kirsten will be aware of every move the Indian captain is likely to make and Dhoni knows that. He has, at his disposal, two master strategists in Ravi Shastri and Duncan Fletcher who will help him zero in on the weaknesses of the opposition.
What the Indian skipper will need to do is to use the KISS principle, with a variance – he needs to Keep It Sober and Simple. The fulcrum of the Indian strategy is its batting and India must make use of the fresh MCG pitch to post a big total if they win the toss. Dhoni will, one hopes, go in with the six-batsman five-bowler strategy that worked well at the Adelaide Oval.
Batting for India
The Indian batsmen know that they need to deal with the express pace of Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel and the aggression of Vernon Philander. A tight approach in the first power-play session will augur well for the team. As a change, and to upset the Proteas strategy, Dhoni could juggle his batting line-up and get Ajinkya Rahane to open the innings with Shikhar Dhawan to add solidity at the start of the innings.
One “weakness” the Proteas have is the lack of balance in their bowling attack. The bowlers to watch out for are Steyn, Morkel and Philander. India must take full advantage of the twenty overs that will be bowled by the other bowlers.
If India does manage to keep wickets in hand till the thirty-fifth over, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma and skipper Dhoni will prove to be a handful with their explosive batting. A simple strategy to go in with a judicious mix of caution and aggression by using an anchor-attacking batsmen combination will ensure runs on the board if all goes as planned. Rahane and Virat Kohli can play the anchors while the rest can flog the other non-regular bowlers.
Bowling them over
The confidence of the Indian bowlers must be much better after the first game than it was during their entire sojourn down under. They must realise that they are bowling to a different batting line-up that goes down to number seven.
The strategy of peppering batsmen with the short ball, that was used against Pakistan, may not work against batsmen like Hashim Amla, Faf du Plessis JP Duminy and de Villiers, who are reared on this kind of bowling. A tight line-and-length strategy will be the need of the hour if the Proteas batting line-up has to be contained.
Slowing down the game, if the batsmen strike early, would mean a lot of hard work for the Indian spinners and one would prefer to see Akshar Patel playing in place of Ravindra Jadeja simply because he is a tighter and disciplined bowler.
Simplicity, sobriety and discipline are the three key principles that India needs to keep in mind if they have to cause an upset by beating the favourites and take pole position in the league phase of the ICC WC 2015. Keep the firecrackers handy, just in case.
India has looked like they are back on the track with an intense performance against old foes Pakistan. The win has now put more pressure on them to continue their winning streak and beat favourites South Africa. The dice though, is loaded in favour of the Proteas who have Gary ‘Gaza’ Kirsten directing the moves of a talented team. If one does a head-to-head comparison between the two teams, the Proteas will undoubtedly walk away as winners.
New tricks needed
Indian skipper MS Dhoni will need to bundle a few rabbits in his hat when he steps out to toss with AB de Villiers at the MCG. Kirsten will be aware of every move the Indian captain is likely to make and Dhoni knows that. He has, at his disposal, two master strategists in Ravi Shastri and Duncan Fletcher who will help him zero in on the weaknesses of the opposition.
What the Indian skipper will need to do is to use the KISS principle, with a variance – he needs to Keep It Sober and Simple. The fulcrum of the Indian strategy is its batting and India must make use of the fresh MCG pitch to post a big total if they win the toss. Dhoni will, one hopes, go in with the six-batsman five-bowler strategy that worked well at the Adelaide Oval.
Batting for India
The Indian batsmen know that they need to deal with the express pace of Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel and the aggression of Vernon Philander. A tight approach in the first power-play session will augur well for the team. As a change, and to upset the Proteas strategy, Dhoni could juggle his batting line-up and get Ajinkya Rahane to open the innings with Shikhar Dhawan to add solidity at the start of the innings.
One “weakness” the Proteas have is the lack of balance in their bowling attack. The bowlers to watch out for are Steyn, Morkel and Philander. India must take full advantage of the twenty overs that will be bowled by the other bowlers.
If India does manage to keep wickets in hand till the thirty-fifth over, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma and skipper Dhoni will prove to be a handful with their explosive batting. A simple strategy to go in with a judicious mix of caution and aggression by using an anchor-attacking batsmen combination will ensure runs on the board if all goes as planned. Rahane and Virat Kohli can play the anchors while the rest can flog the other non-regular bowlers.
Bowling them over
The confidence of the Indian bowlers must be much better after the first game than it was during their entire sojourn down under. They must realise that they are bowling to a different batting line-up that goes down to number seven.
The strategy of peppering batsmen with the short ball, that was used against Pakistan, may not work against batsmen like Hashim Amla, Faf du Plessis JP Duminy and de Villiers, who are reared on this kind of bowling. A tight line-and-length strategy will be the need of the hour if the Proteas batting line-up has to be contained.
Slowing down the game, if the batsmen strike early, would mean a lot of hard work for the Indian spinners and one would prefer to see Akshar Patel playing in place of Ravindra Jadeja simply because he is a tighter and disciplined bowler.
Simplicity, sobriety and discipline are the three key principles that India needs to keep in mind if they have to cause an upset by beating the favourites and take pole position in the league phase of the ICC WC 2015. Keep the firecrackers handy, just in case.
Limited-time offer: Big stories, small price. Keep independent media alive. Become a Scroll member today!
Our journalism is for everyone. But you can get special privileges by buying an annual Scroll Membership. Sign up today!