World Cup 2019 semi-finals: India’s strengths, weaknesses and road to the knockouts

India came in to the World Cup carrying the hopes of over a billion fans and Virat Kohli’s side have lived up to the expectations so far by finishing top of the 10-team group table.

They steamrolled South Africa, Australia and arch rivals Pakistan in their first three completed matches.

It was against underdogs Afghanistan that they faced their first scare only to scrape through in the last over with paceman Mohammed Shami claiming a hat-trick.

England proved to be a stumbling block for rampant India as they went down to the hosts by 31 runs at Edgbaston despite a century from Rohit Sharma. That was followed by a win against Bangladesh (Sharma scoring a ton again) that confirmed the team’s spot in the top four.

Sharma extended his blazing run of form with his record fifth hundred in a single edition of the World Cup as India humbled Sri Lanka in their last group match. Australia’s loss to South Africa enabled Kohli’s side to finish top and set up the semi-final with New Zealand at Old Trafford on Tuesday.

Also read here: New Zealand’s strengths, weaknesses and road to semi-finals

It is ironic that India’s only washout in the group came against New Zealand, who had beaten the two-time champions in a warm-up game in May.

India though start as favourites against the Kiwis, who have who have lost their last three group games.

Strengths

• The top order, first and foremost. Or, more specifically, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. In the absence of their partner in crime Shikhar Dhawan, the two have stepped up admirably while making sure KL Rahul settles in at the top as well.
• The seam bowling attack. Whoever partners Jasprit Bumrah at Old Trafford, will have the utmost trust of Kohli because at various points the supporting seamers, Mohammed Shami and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, have stepped up. As for Bumrah, he has lived up to his No 1 billing with ease.
• A couple of X-Factors in Hardik Pandya and Rishabh Pant. While the former has delivered with the bat and ball on more than a couple of occasions in this World Cup, Pant’s potential to turn the match on its head is exciting for Indian fans. The latter has shown glimpses of what he can do and should he get going at No 4, watch out Kiwis.

Weaknesses

• If you are not aware that India have a middle-order problem, you have not been paying attention. It has been evident in the past two years, it was the most-debated issue in the months before the World Cup, it is still the most-discussed topic when it comes to discussing India’s weakness.
• Kuldeep Yadav’s lack of wickets. Coming into the World Cup as the game’s foremost spinner in the last two years, the left-arm wrist-spinner has not been able to find his mojo that he lost during the IPL. With just six wickets in seven games he has played, Kuldeep’s will give a cause for concern for Kohli... remains to be seen if the spinner does play at Old Trafford.
• Batting against spin has been a problem between overs 20-40, especially in terms of rotating the strike. MS Dhoni will once again be under the scanner.

Key numbers

Outstanding seamers

Spin has been outshone at this World Cup. No team’s aggregate spinners have taken wickets at better than 40 runs apiece and India are no exception to that. Afghanistan took the most, with 27 wickets at 41.59, but they finished bottom of the standings after the round-robin stage. It has been left to seamers to pick up the slack. India have led the way in this regard. Led by Bumrah, their quicks have snaffled 51 wickets at 23.50, the best average of any team.

Solid starting strategy

Kohli’s side have lost only four wickets in the entire competition in the first 10 overs, showing an unstinting commitment to reducing risk. India’s run rate of 4.65 in the first Powerplay was well below the tournament average of 4.93, scoring 28 against England and 32 against South Africa. Keeping their cool and with record-breaking Sharma to the fore, Indian wickets have cost 93 runs on average, leaving Sharma and Kohli to wreak havoc at the end of the innings.

Tail too long

That said, when teams can dislodge their top three, India continue to find it difficult to score quickly in the death overs. Since the 2015 World Cup, none of the 10 teams’ tail-enders – taken as numbers eight to 11 – have scored slower than India, whose collective run-rate stands at 4.71 an over. Lower-order batsmen scored at a strike rate of 120 or higher 28 times in the group stage - only Hardik Pandya’s 46 against West Indies was that swift. The combination India decide to go with against New Zealand will be interesting, to see if they go with effectively four No. 11s or Jadeja finds a place.

(With inputs from the ICC)