To be fair to Team India, all the problems they have had to deal with in recent times are because of their struggles in red-ball cricket. In limited-overs formats, they have performed well enough with most things thrown at them.
After a forgettable Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia, this Champions Trophy is the next big task for Rohit Sharma and his teammates, as they begin their campaign in the tournament against Bangladesh in Dubai on Thursday.
The opponents in their tournament opener shouldn’t be too intimidating, for they are far superior to the Bangladeshis in terms of skills and quality. Preparation-wise too, India beat a relatively formidable opposition, England, hands down in a three-match ODI series at home.
Some of the players who were in that ODI series squad had fared well in the preceding T20Is as well.
The excellent form of opener Shubman Gill and No.4 Shreyas Iyer also bodes well for India. More importantly, both batsmen have been close to impeccable lately when it comes to stroke-making. Their aggression and intent to find the boundaries to ensure the pressure stays on the rival bowlers stood out during the England ODIs.
But, taking everything into account, this is a big-ticket event where even the in-form Gill and Shreyas will have to start afresh. Besides, a little bit of doubt still exists over the rhythm of the Big Two of India’s batting line-up — captain Rohit and Virat Kohli.
Rohit did register a Rohit-like match-winning ton against England in Cuttack earlier this month, but in the other two games, he could contribute only single-digit scores. As for Kohli, he too hasn’t been convincing enough despite the 52 in the final ODI in Ahmedabad. And, in both the matches he played, he nicked to the keeper, though leg-spinner Adil Rashid was the bowler on those occasions.
However, his past record in the Champions Trophy is something Kohli can fall back on, while the level of competition also drives him to be at his best, as seen during the 2023 ODI World Cup.
“I’ve always liked this tournament (Champions Trophy). It represents consistency as you have to be in the top eight of the rankings (to qualify). The level of competition is always good,” Kohli told the official broadcaster.
The pitches at the Dubai International Stadium are usually on the flatter side and batsman-friendly. But it’s expected to be partly cloudy in Dubai on Thursday, which means there could be a wee bit of assistance for the quicks and not so much for the spinners. And India have gone into the tournament with as many as five spin options, though Rohit snubbed such a claim.
“We have only two specialist spinners (Kuldeep Yadav and Varun Chakravarthy). Jaddu (Ravindra Jadeja), Axar (Patel) and Washy (Washington Sundar) are (spinner) all-rounders. They give a different dimension to our squad,” Rohit said on Wednesday, the eve of India’s opener.
Now, are India excellently placed in terms of pace, particularly if the two fresh wickets don’t have much on offer for the spinners?
In Jasprit Bumrah’s absence, the pace attack lacks enough experience to tackle the rigours of a marquee event. Yes, senior pacer Mohammed Shami hasn’t done badly since his return to international cricket. But his workload remains a concern.
It won’t be surprising at all if India field three spinners — Jadeja, Axar and Kuldeep or Varun in the XI. But who will be the two specialist quicks alongside all-rounder Hardik Pandya? Shami and Arshdeep Singh, or Arshdeep and Harshit Rana?