Every time India has played in this year’s Cricket World Cup, the fans have come out in large numbers to support the home team. It is a natural phenomenon in any sport and across any tournament. Even so, a World Cup in India hits differently — especially when the home team walk out on the field.
This tournament has been hampered by administrative red tape and at an organizational level, the host body, the Board of Control for Cricket in India has been criticized for not doing enough to fill the stadiums. It is seen most in the complicated ticketing process, which has reportedly hindered Indian and overseas fans attending venues for non-India games.
Despite these shortcomings, India’s games have been a pure delight from a spectator’s point of view. A sea of blue has thronged the grounds — from Chennai, Ahmedabad and Delhi to Mumbai, and everywhere else in between.
Photo: AP
The caravan now rolls into Kolkata, where the majestic Eden Gardens waits in anticipation for today’s game. It is expected to be packed to the brim, with 70,000 fans singing and cheering as India take on South Africa.
India, of course, will look to continue their winning run. They are the only unbeaten side in the tournament and are atop the table with 14 points from seven successive wins — a dominant showing to confirm their semi-final spot.
India’s winning run has been inspired by some fine performances. Star batsman Virat Kohli was second on the run-scoring charts ahead of yesterday’s games with 442 from seven matches. Skipper Rohit Sharma was also among the top five run-getters with 402.
Photo: AFP
Jasprit Bumrah was fifth in the wickets’ charts with 15 from seven games as was Mohammed Shami, who has set the tournament alight with 14 wickets in only three games.
Shami came into the playing 11 after Hardik Pandya sustained an ankle injury against Bangladesh. The star all-rounder was ruled out of the remaining World Cup yesterday — ahead of India’s final two league-stage games. This was after the hosts waited two weeks on the all-rounder’s recuperation to see if he could be fit in time for the knockouts.
Pacer Prasidh Krishna — who has 29 wickets from 17 ODIs — has been called up as replacement.
It marks a shift in India’s strategy for this World Cup. While in Pandya’s absence, India were forced to play six batters and field only five bowlers, going ahead, they do not have any other feasible option.
While Shardul Thakur and Ravichandran Ashwin are available, skipper Rohit Sharma has previously outlined how they could only be utilized as a sixth bowling option if Pandya was available. Adjusting a sixth bowling option would mean dropping a batter, which is not prudent in a batter-dominant tournament.
Furthermore, India’s three frontline pacers have done a brilliant job thus far and this combination — albeit far from ideal — merits more game time.
South Africa, in turn, would like to exploit the chink in India’s armor. The Proteas have been flying high — placed second with 12 points from seven games. They need one more win to confirm qualification for the semi-finals.
More importantly, South Africa have notched up four scores of 350-plus in this tournament — three of them are the tournament’s highest totals.
It has been able to achieve this with ample batting firepower. Quinton de Kock is ahead of Kohli in the run-scoring charts — 545 runs in seven games. Then, the middle order packs a punch. Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram and Heinrich Klaasen have all accumulated power-packed hundreds. Their batting line-up likes to dominate overs 11 to 40 and then launch a scathing finish in the second powerplay.
“In these batting friendly conditions, these days, if you don’t take wickets, guys will score big against you. And for us, as a top-order, it’s finding that balance between being attacking and scoring runs ... as also setting the base up for the middle order to come in,” Van der Dussen said.
Against India, this element of South Africa’s game plan is likely where the match will be won or lost. Can they power through the tournament’s best bowling attack? Or will India dominate yet again on home soil?
The answers will go a long way in setting up the semi-final match-ups.
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