Thursday 02 / May / 2024
Have team India ticked all the boxes and ready for the World Cup starting in two weeks’ time? That’s the question lot of fans still have even though India were crowned champions in the recently concluded Asia Cup in Colombo
India had an easy win over Pakistan in the Super stage and beat Srilanka in a one sided final but there are still some unanswered questions. Biggest worry for team India is Shreyas Iyer’s fitness as his back spasms recurred again and he could not play the last three games of the tournament. Shreyas Iyer is touted as big ODI player with a solid temperament and can be India’s number four player who can built an innings as well as one who plays the spinners well. More importantly Shreyas is also a gutsy player who can finish games in close encounters and has the ability to soak the pressure. His injury recurring is a worrying sign but coach Rahul Dravid is confident he will be fit for the Australian series which is prior to the world cup. And one hopes he will be able to play all the three games starting from 22nd September which is just two days away. And more importantly get some time in the middle to get some match practice to be full ready before India’s first game also against Australia which is on 5th October in Chennai.
Second big problem India has faced is the injury to Axar Patel and looks doubtful he will be able to play the Australian series so both Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid will hope he will recover at least before the warm up games. Even though Axar Patel has gone off the boil with his bowling but India wants someone had number 8 to finish the games with the bat as the rest three players in Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj and Kuldeep Yadav can’t be trusted with the bat and India does not want a long tail in a chase which gets tight like the Bangladesh game which India lost. History in the past in a crunch game like the 2019 semifinal still haunts India where India were so close yet so far after both Dhoni and Jadeja fell and India’s bowlers could not reach the target.
Also Ravindra Jadeja has off late not performed well with the bat must be a concern and will hope Jadeja can get back his mojo as India wants the all-rounders to deliver if the top order fails. India has Hardik Pandya who looked good with the bat and ball in the Asia Cup and will hope Ravindra Jadeja and can also contribute both with ball and bat
India has called in Ravichandran Ashwin and Washington Sundar but both have not played ODI cricket for India for a long time specially Ashwin but on the brighter side they give India an option of off spinner who are handy with the bat. This three match series India would be trying them both and see who fits the bracket incase Axar fails to recover. India will hope to these answers in the three ODIs against Australia and hope they tick all boxes before their first game.
