From woes to wins can India do it?

Defending champions Team India would step into the threshold of the World Cup not in the best of forms. Last time around, they had plenty of advantages, the biggest one of them being the fact that it was being battled out on homeground. This time, the tables have turned and the venues are themselves more of a challenge even before the duels begin. Their form has been one of the worst and they don’t feature in any finalist list.

But then, the lack of expectations can also work wonders for team India. Since no one expects them to even make it to the semis, it’ll help them relax. However, since they haven’t tasted any sort of success in the past two-and-a-half months, despite being in Australia for all that long, the stress of being underprepared would weigh down on them pretty heavily. The stay there would have helped for sure, but then, their self-esteem is at a rock bottom and that surely doesn’t help especially before such a high-profile tourney.

To add to that, they’re also battling injuries. Among those under a cloud of injury include players like Ishant Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, Rohit Sharma and Bhuvaneshwar Kumar. Apart from that, the Australian tour has certainly exposed a lot of chinks in the Indian armour. And shockingly, they’re both in the batting as well as bowling departments. While the opening has never taken off, the middle order has failed massively. Even though MS Dhoni and Stuart Binny have somewhat steadied things, it’s been a classic case of too little, too late. The bowling department was never really tested because of a lack of performance from the batting unit. Therefore, things don’t look too hunky dory for the Indians as of now.

Coach Duncan Fletcher was never the media’s eye candy. He’s been criticised brutally and there were even murmurs asking him to go back. But he’s withstood all of that. Speaks volumes about his mental strength.

Key Players

Virat Kohli

Fall back on who else but Virat Kohli at the time of crisis? He’s an aggressive strokemaker, who has no qualms in paying the opposition back in its own coin. Even though his form cracked in the couple of ODIs that the Indians played recently, yet, he’s always known to deliver when the situation arises.

Rohit Sharma

He’s the man who has two ODI double centuries to his name. Even if not double centuries, the Indians would need him to get to decent numbers, because as the opener, a lot depends on him to lay a good platform for the middle order to raise a huge total on.

MS Dhoni

He’s not only the skipper, but also the finisher in many terms. He’s the one who takes the total top a logical closure when the team is batting first and he’s the one who’s expected to drive the team home when it comes to chasing down a target. Therefore, a lot depends on him. Literally.

R Ashwin

 

His bowling is an asset: it can contain runs, it can frustrate the batsmen and it can yield wickets. But his batting can come in handy, too.

Dark Horses

There are several dark horses as far as the Indians are concerned. The biggest one of them is Stuart Binny. He can bat, bowl and he also has the responsibility of finishing the matches teaming up with MS Dhoni. But then, he can perform. Suresh Raina, Mohammad Shami and Ishant Sharma will be the other players to watch our for.

Complete Squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Virat Kohli (vice-captain), Ajinkya Rahane, Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Stuart Binny, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Ambati Rayudu, Akshar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma.