Even after being caught off-guard by the US in their T20 World Cup opener in Mumbai last week, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube and the like dealt in big hits at Tuesday’s training session under lights at the Arun Jaitley Stadium.
Continuing with this ultra-aggressive approach even after a collapse in their previous game may still not hurt India much against minnows Namibia here on Thursday.
But thereafter, against Pakistan in Colombo on Sunday and going forward in the competition, laying greater emphasis on the pitch and overall conditions may assume bigger significance than just focusing entirely on ultra-aggression.
The team management, too, seems to have understood that and is mulling a “slight revision in strategy” with the bat. The batting collapse in Mumbai, till captain Suryakumar Yadav came up with a rescue act, is something that will be addressed.
“The wickets haven’t played quite the way we thought they would and again, we want to be adaptive and we should have been a lot better the other night in Mumbai, and it’s something we will address,” assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate told reporters.
“Given our world-class bowling attack, it does give the batters that freedom to make mistakes, and in this format, if you’re shooting for 250 all the time, you’re going to make mistakes and we have to accept that.
“It’s almost admissible mistakes which we allow for. But judging how the wickets have played in this first five or six days of the tournament, there might be a slight revision in strategy and how we go about things,” Ten Doeschate said.
The struggle with the bat has certainly been a wake-up call for the defending champions. “…We want to play a certain way of cricket and now it does feel like we’re at a World Cup.
“That first outing in Mumbai was a nice shake-up, a nice wake-up call when you find yourself at 77/6. You realise you’re starting the World Cup defence. We certainly know we’re in a World Cup now.
“That wicket in Mumbai did call out for a bit more application and maybe a change in strategy,” Ten Doeschate stated.
Doubts over Abhishek
Forget blazing away in his usual style, the start to young Abhishek Sharma’s debut World Cup has been anything but perfect. Departing off the very first ball at the Wankhede last Saturday, Abhishek is yet to recover fully from the stomach bug and missed Tuesday’s training session.
“Abhi still has a bit of issues in his tummy. We still believe he will be available for the (Namibia) game,” Ten Doeschate said.
If Abhishek doesn’t recover by Thursday, struggling keeper-batter Sanju Samson, who spent quite some time with the bat during Tuesday’s training, may get another chance in the XI.
What bodes well for the team is pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah being fit to play. Bumrah, missing the last game for being unwell, bowled a decent spell at nets to the likes of Ishan and Samson. Against Pakistan on Sunday, India do need Bumrah’s services.
Off-spinner all-rounder Washington Sundar, too, joined the squad on Monday and bowled a little bit at the training session.
Pak challenge
Although Team India got the confirmation late on Monday about their clash against Pakistan going ahead as scheduled at the Premadasa on Sunday, it seems they had pretty much anticipated a change of stance from their arch-rivals regarding taking the field for this high-octane game.
“First of all, it’s great that the game is back on. We kind of never changed our preparation, though. We were under the impression that something would transpire. We are delighted to have another chance at playing a quality side at
this stage of the tournament,” Ten Doeschate said.
India are staying clear of all the politics between the two nations, the assistant coach emphasised, adding they also need to adapt quickly to the conditions in Colombo, more so as Pakistan have been there for a fortnight.
“We’re trying to stay clear of all the politics about the sentiments of the country and the different politics between the two countries. It’s really important for us just to focus on the cricket side of things.”
