India are beatable, David Miller, the hero of South Africa’s huge 76-run win in Ahmedabad on Sunday, said with firmness in his voice at the post-match news conference.
In sport, invincibility isn’t permanent at all. That way, no matter how strong India’s performances have been in the shortest format since winning the T20 World Cup in 2024, they are bound to slip in a game or two.
But there is a line between slipping in an odd game and being hammered by a formidable opposition after getting away with repeated errors against weaker opponents. That’s been the Team India story so far in this T20 World Cup.
Right from their tournament opener against USA, India’s batting has had a somewhat tough time. One blinder of a knock and the overall poor standard of the opponents in their group saved India the blushes. Against a strong South African side, though, the chinks in India’s armoury were exposed on Sunday, their first Super Eight match.
The thrashing from the Proteas has severely hurt India’s net run rate (-3.800). To assure themselves of a semi-final berth, the reigning champions must win by a big margin against both Zimbabwe (in Chennai on Thursday) and the West Indies (at the Eden on March 1), and also hope the results of the other games in Group 1 go in their favour.
But first, India need to iron out their flaws to give themselves the best chance of winning their next two matches handsomely.
Rethink approach
The fearless, ultra-aggressive approach with the bat was one reason behind India establishing and cementing their top position in the T20I rankings. But what’s equally important is being a little watchful when dealing with conditions that aren’t loaded in favour of batters.
Even the otherwise in-form Ishan Kishan needs to understand it. That both openers Abhishek Sharma and Ishan have fallen to off-spinners in the first over of India’s innings in three matches on the trot underlines their problems against off-break bowling. But what these left-handed batters can do against off-spinners is show a bit of application and play a couple of extra dot balls, to help settle down and ease their prospects of churning out the big strokes.
“In the last two-three matches, with two left-handers batting at the top, we have been losing wickets to off-spinners in the very first over of our innings and not getting the momentum. That is definitely a concern,” agreed batting coach Sitanshu Kotak.
“We’ll give it some time and think if we have to do something about it.”
India’s chances of winning on Sunday were practically over after Hardik Pandya’s dismissal. The focus then should have been on batting sensibly to get as much close as possible to South Africa’s total (187/7), keeping the net run rate in mind. But instead of giving support to Shivam Dube, both Rinku Singh and Arshdeep Singh threw their wickets away with poor shots, trying to maintain the ultra-agggressive approach.
“We were aware of the margin and net run rate, so needed to get as closer as possible,” Kotak said.
The batting coach also emphasised the need to get at least “two more boundaries” in those middle overs, which can lift the scoring rate to nine (runs an over) from seven-and-a-half to eight.
Tough call
Alongside Abhishek, No.3 Tilak Varma has too looked anything but steady so far. The coaching staff hasn’t really ruled out a possibility of Sanju Samson’s return in the XI, saying he remains in the fray.
Both Abhishek and Tilak are finding the going tough and thus erring with injudicious strokes, hurting the team’s momentum. In a must-win situation now, to book a place in the semi-finals, will the team management make a tough call and bring in Samson in Abhishek or Tilak’s place for the clash against Zimbabwe?
Or, should India back both Abhishek and Tilak and give them another chance?
“We are in a situation where we have to think if we need to change anything or go with the same thing. If we change, it’s about what do we change and how we change,” Kotak said.