Kolkata: If one can look and feel beyond the iconic Virat Kohli moment, the clinical way in which India strode past South Africa, a team that was being feared as the one to beat, spoke of character, joint performance, captaincy, blooming strategies, total control of an innings and a good space where bowlers have been powering the script of the journey to Ahmedabad.
Kohli’s 49th century, equalling the great Sachin Tendulkar, powered the massive 234-run win against South Africa, with India towering as the only team in the tournament on a Grand Slam trajectory. Away from the glamour and glitz of the biggest batting moment, was the quiet achievement of a relatively unsung bowler Ravindra Jadeja, who recorded a quick five-for to become the first spinner to do so in a World Cup.
The plan worked from the very beginning after skipper Rohit Sharma won the toss and put South Africa to chase. The strategy has been for Rohit and Shubman Gill to wear the mantle of being the fast and furious one giving scintillating starts to the innings, then the baton passing on to Kohli to execute the preservation overs and build on the total steadily, without losing wickets, not giving the opposition a chance to either test the lower middle order or open the tail to wagging.
At Eden Garden, Rohit Sharma executed the script to perfection, making quickfire 40 runs in 24 balls before handing the baton to Kohli for a longer stay in the middle which he did by remaining unbeaten till the end of the innings. Scoring 90 runs within the first 10 overs is applaudable and the 118 decibel cheer for Kohli’s century from the stands was an acknowledgment of the strategy working to optimum result.
His century was significant because it was constructed with tenacity, perseverance, and patience, taking 119 balls, no risky aerials in the form of sixes, just 10 boundaries, and lots and lots of rotational runs that made it a specimen of slow perfection.
On a surface like Eden Garden, that was quite an achievement. Returning to the Team India strategy, in this firm Rohit-Kohli outer mould are the cemented pigeonhole performances of the likes of KL Rahul and a swashbuckling Shreyas Iyer to give the backbone the tough muscle and flesh for bowlers to defend.
Once that is achieved, which it was done beautifully at Eden Garden where the wicket was proving to be difficult and the South African bowlers asked questions but were answered, the bowlers take over and that’s when the winnability comes into full display. Today, it was a five-for from Ravindra Jadeja, the comparatively unsung performer in Team India, who was handed the ball by his trusting captain within the powerplay and he did not disappoint.
The Rockstar, as the legendary Australian spinner Shane Warne called him, is someone against whom the best of world-class batters are unable to move their feet. At Eden, he completely foxed South Africa skipper Bavuma to set standards for a show that was always under his hat but never got an opportunity to create the magic. Jadeja was introduced early in the game and before Chinaman Kuldeep Yadav, a decision that proved fruitful as he demolished the South African batting unit claiming five wickets in the match.
Returning to the operations unit once more, the Indian seamers hunt in packs and fulfill their task of bringing home the heads at breakfast. Jasprit Bumrah, swinging both in and out, has the job of either taking wickets in his first two overs or setting the stage for batters to balk at his precision bowling, only to be gobbled up by Mohammed Siraj who bowls with a big heart and just keeps running in generating menacing speed and getting his men.
And then comes Mohammed Shami, who is the highest wicket-taker in World Cups with 47 wickets in 17 innings, to blow away the batters with his straight seam-up beauties, mostly becoming unplayable. The consistent length bowling perennially flirting with the off-stump has become an exclusively Indian thing in this World Cup as has the spin action in the middle overs and the slow and fast yorkers in the death.
Shami, for example, has this slow run-up which camouflages the speed at which the balls rush to the batsman. And, while doing so, he can also move the ball both ways, a weapon he has unleashed to undying success ever since he rose from the bench to conquer the run-up. Meanwhile, the chirp around the six-bowler option not being there with India has run for cover in the face of the searing performance of the arm unit and the five bowlers bowling out oppositions well before the anointed overs or when chasing, well short of their targets.
Sharma, who has often talked about processes, game-to-game thinking, the assignments per player, the happy spaces, the camaraderie, and the serious intent behind all the fun that is necessary for the campaign, is in the prime of his form. His leadership qualities have not had the glitter of an MS Dhoni but they speak volumes about his knowledge of the game, his thinking capabilities, and his ability to read games and situations, a must for any team to be on the top if its game.
Against South Africa, all of the above was on full display making Rohit Sharma’s squad the men among the boys without any argument left in the armoury of sceptics. The unit has kept on a Grand Slam trajectory. From here on, it should take a charter to Motera, if the glorious uncertainties do not fox a team that singularly deserves to lift this Cup.
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