India got off to a great start with the ball after winning the toss and both Jasprit Bumrah and Mohd Siraj were right on the money
Jasprit Bumrah against NZ on Sunday. Pic/Getty Images
The clash between the table toppers was expected to be tight and tense and that’s exactly how the Dharamsala game turned out. India went in with a big handicap of not having Hardik Pandya available and hence only five bowlers. It is extremely tough for a captain to manage 50 overs with just five bowlers, but Rohit Sharma has been at his captaincy best in this World Cup and he managed these 50 overs very shrewdly. Agreed, he has a great line-up of reliable five bowlers, but I thought the way he kept a lot of Kuldeep Yadav’s overs in the bag, worked well for India as the wicket-taking pressure was always on.
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Jasprit, Siraj on the money
India got off to a great start with the ball after winning the toss and both Jasprit Bumrah and Mohd Siraj were right on the money. Then came a very strong partnership between young Rachin Ravindra and the ever improving Daryl Mitchell. Ravindra started tensely as was expected, but showed great self-confidence to keep backing himself after a few ungainly attempts at shots early on. He is a great prospect for NZ as left-handed all-rounders are rare to find. Mitchell is going through a great 24 months at the top-most level. He played a big role in calming Ravindra down, talking to him a few times during this partnership with tactical inputs.
Mitchell and Ravindra looked like they would take the score to an above-par of 310 or so, but then, that’s when the incomparable Bumrah came into the picture and bowled with unwavering accuracy to stop Mitchell from hitting boundaries. Bumrah to me was the man of the match as he alone reduced the total by around 30 to 40 runs. A 274-target was still a tough ask, but the Indian batting line-up is in supreme form and skipper Rohit again batted courageously and took the bigger hitting risk himself while allowing Shubman Gill to settle down. This is the mark of a true leader and such leadership nuances gladden one’s heart. Gill looked terrific until he scooped one straight to deep third man.
Kohli, a man on mission
Virat Kohli is a man on a mission and wants to make this World Cup his own. He was impeccable and did the star turn once again with 95. He is playing the senior role rightly and this was manifested in his partnership with Ravindra Jadeja, who himself is vastly experienced.
I thought Tom Latham had an average day as captain and could have made life tougher for the Indians. He missed a trick by not getting Ravindra into the attack much earlier to see if he settles down into a five or six-over spell. This would have enabled him to keep Mitchell Santner at the later half of the innings when it got hot in the kitchen. And when he did, Santner had bowled out. Latham will improve with more experience, but I find it strange that such a well articulated team like NZ did not course-correct this during the game.
The younger Indian batters need to convert starts and play more percentage cricket than they are doing now, as this might make a difference in the crucial semi-final which India would most likely start as table toppers.
Jatin Paranjape, the ex-India and Mumbai batsman, is a former national selector too. He tweets @jats72
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