The manner in which India eventually squeezed past the West Indies on Sunday night told a story.
It is not necessarily a narrative with a great amount of depth, but it is there to see.
All India needed was a run off the final over, and there was never a genuine danger that things would go awry.
Yuvraj Singh cut a slightly frustrated figure when he failed to get the first two balls away; the third, perhaps out of desperation, he steered straight into the hands of first slip.
It ended an innings of 10, off 19 balls. Suresh Raina walked in grinning, exchanged words with Rohit Sharma at the other end, and smashed his first ball past point. Easy, then.
Up-and-down seasonsThe ICC World Twenty20 is a significant tournament for Raina and Yuvraj.
Both have endured up-and-down seasons in the build-up and neither was considered for the Asia Cup. Yuvraj faced two balls on India’s tour of South Africa, was bowled off the second by Ryan McLaren, and did not travel to New Zealand.
Raina did, only to be dropped for the final two ODIs. It rounded off a hard stretch, when he had scored only one half-century in 24 one-day innings, averaging 26.40.
On circumstantial evidence alone, one is enjoying this comeback more than the other. Raina made 41 and 54 in the two practice matches, took two wickets, and then saw India home against Pakistan, in a game where he held three critical catches in the deep.
Against the West Indies, he turned his arm over to good effect, going for eight runs from his two overs, before chuckling through the winning hit.
“I realised what I had done earlier. I analysed my game and what can be done in upcoming games. I worked hard with my coach in the nets and played a few domestic games and now I’ve done well.
“Touchwood, God has been kind,” Raina said after the opening fixture.
Yuvraj made 33 and 1 in the warm-ups, went for 13 from his only over in the Pakistan match, dropped Mohammad Hafeez in the deep, and was bowled for one by Bilawal Bhatti. The shot, he will admit, was not the greatest.
The West Indies brought no better luck; he put Chris Gayle down on the boundary, and then was dismissed when he might have felt good putting the game to bed.
The contrast is not meant to indict one player or extol another.
They perform different roles and are not in direct competition. There could be mitigating circumstances too.
A number of catches have been dropped at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium, with players and coaches feeling that the height of the floodlights and the background perhaps had something to do with it.
At any rate, it would be absurd to pass career judgement on the evidence of two Twenty20 matches. What we may say, though, is that one is clearly feeling the pressure more than the other.
Yuvraj is 32 and a tremendous match-winner, of whom a great deal is expected.
He is five years older than Raina and does not have the luxury of spending another year or two out to prove himself again. Dhoni admitted that the pressure was perhaps telling on him.
“It is a bit tough; he has been dropped from ODIs and is coming back in T20s, there is a bit of pressure on the individual,” the captain said.
“It takes one or two matches, but if he gets into good flow, we all know he can really turn the game around on his own.”
Pressure does funny things, even to those with the healthiest of credentials. It would be premature to fret over Yuvraj’s loss of form.
Anyone in need of reassurance could talk to the Karnataka pace-bowler H.S. Sharath.
Only last month, turning out for State Bank of Mysore against Air India in the BCCI Corporate Trophy, he was on the receiving end of a Yuvraj special, a knock of 105 off 74 balls, with 12 fours and five sixes.
“I bowled him a bouncer first ball,” he recounts.
“He hit the next one for six. Wherever we bowled, he hit us. He was very harsh on the spinners.
“Sometimes, it actually makes you happy to see such quality batting.”
