BackBangladesh next for India in battle of Birmingham
Though the manner of India’s loss to England has sparked a flurry of questions, it has made the last stage of the World Cup round robin league more intriguing. Mint takes a look at part 2 of the battle of Birmingham, where India were handed their first defeat
Premium1) Takeaways from the England defeat
The biggest takeaway from the loss to England is to be flexible in bowling. Sometimes the game plan you begin with isn’t ideal for the conditions, opposition, or state of the game. India failed to adapt when England started plundering runs from the spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav, with the boundary being just 59 metres on one side for the pitch used in this game. Yadav did flatten his trajectory, but Chahal seemed shell-shocked and hardly varied his bowling, rarely using the googly. India could have also tried Kedar Jadhav against Ben Stokes, but didn’t.
2) Fuller length at the start
Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami showed again what a force they are to reckon with. They were unlucky at the start as Jonny Bairstow and Jason Roy played and missed multiple times, while edges flew past the stumps. But they also bowled too short to make that breakthrough. A slightly fuller length with a new ball would have been more likely to get a wicket. It didn’t help that India didn’t review a “not out" after Roy gloved a ball to M.S.Dhoni. That should’ve been reviewed even if they heard nothing, because the ball passed so close to the glove and Roy is a game changer. England scored 111 at 10 an over after that reprieve, until Roy fell.
3) What’s Jadhav’s role?
Dhoni got booed at Birmingham for lacking intent at the finish. India might as well have gone down in flames instead of nurdling 20 singles in the last five overs, which had only three fours and a solitary six. One has to question Jadhav’s role in this team if he doesn’t bowl and can’t hit boundaries at the end, managing just 12 in 13 balls when 71 were needed in 31 balls. Perhaps a finisher such as Dinesh Karthik or all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja could play with more purpose. India solved the middle order strike rate problem with the induction of Rishabh Pant. Now for a finishing touch!
4) Pace off the ball
More than the way Dhoni and Jadhav played, however, India needs to look at how the England bowlers exploited a slowing surface. Pace off the ball, especially from Liam Plunkett, made it harder for the batsmen to target the shorter square boundaries. It’s something the Bangladesh bowlers, especially Mustafizur Rahman, can also exploit. The toss will again be important.
The state of the league
Bangladesh need to beat India and Pakistan to get 11 points. Pakistan need to beat Bangladesh for 11 points. Both Bangladesh and Pakistan will likely be eliminated if England beat New Zealand. The Kiwis will probably qualify even if they lose, because their net run rate is way higher than that of Bangladesh and Pakistan. The World Cup has indeed cooked up a nice khichdi.
Sumit Chakraberty is the author of 2019 Cricket World Cup Thinking Cap.
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