India criss-crossed Australia during January’s triangular series — Melbourne to Brisbane to Sydney to Perth, a journey of some 6500 km — without ever looking like winning a game of cricket.
Over the last fortnight, the same players (minus Ishant Sharma) have turned in two performances so complete that it leads us to wonder if they were sandbagging all along.
In M.S. Dhoni’s eyes, the explanation — like a lot of other things — is simple. “We kept the intensity a bit low during the tri-series,” he said.
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“We knew it would be slightly tough for us to turn it on, with our being here for four-and-a-half months. We wanted to win; we pushed for the wins, but we were not able to get that. We knew that the World Cup, right around the corner, was much more important to us.”
If India used the Carlton-Mid ODI series as an extended set of warm-up matches for the World Cup, then it has been well-served by that approach.
Of course, the failures hurt, but there was no reason to panic, according to Dhoni, for the team had been focused on the bigger prize all along.
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Had India taken him by surprise, A.B. de Villiers was asked. “Not really, no,” he said. “I am not surprised. They are always competitive in World Cups, and I didn’t expect anything less from them. I expected them to be urgent, and especially in World Cups, they lift their performance a bit.”
An act of sorceryThe most pleasing and surprising part of India’s success, though, has been a bowling display so vastly superior to its old self that it seems like some act of sorcery. How often has a bunch of Indian fast bowlers looked as menacing as Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami and Mohit Sharma did in the first 11 overs of the South African innings?
Quinton de Kock found the ball thudding into his midriff, and Hashim Amla was evidently discomfited: there was pace and bounce, administered in the right doses and at the right times.
“I spoke to Hashim after the innings. He actually mentioned that he was quite impressed with the bowling performance from India,” de Villiers revealed later.
Amla is a man with an ODI average of 56, at a strike rate nearing 90; he is not easily overcome.
“In recent times, definitely it was a fantastic performance. Maybe, the wicket also helped us a bit, but they quickly assessed what was the right length to bowl, and didn’t give too much room.
“When it was swinging, they made sure they bowled tight lengths, and at the same time when it stopped swinging, they were bowling close. They never gave any extra width to the batsmen, and most of their batsmen love that extra width, right from the top-order,” Dhoni gushed later.
Like in Adelaide, on Sunday the spinners arrived after their colleagues had inflicted early losses on the enemy, but R. Ashwin still managed to stand out.
His form and value have been questioned repeatedly; his reply has been to go about his duties without fuss.
Then, there were the run-outs, of course not in the same league as de Villiers’s direct hits, for not everyone is so alarmingly gifted, but hugely impressive for a pair of Indian fast bowlers nonetheless.
“We are used to the opposition taking on our fast bowlers, especially when they are fielding in the deep,” Dhoni said later at the presentation ceremony. “So, it was good to see Mohit and Umesh; they are quite fast. I won’t say they are the fastest in the world, but they are good and have a decent arm.”
Best fielding side?Without getting swept up in the euphoria, there is a case to be made for this being the best Indian fielding side ever. Diving stops, catches, speed across the field, throws: they have it all covered.
As defending champion, India has made a pretty loud statement with its demolition of, first, Pakistan, and now South Africa.
Its two potentially hardest engagements in Pool B were reduced to landslides, where the result was beyond doubt halfway through the second innings.
With the UAE, West Indies, Zimbabwe and Ireland to follow, India’s World Cup campaign is likely to hurtle along at top speed for the next three weeks.