Express View on India’s Asia Cup win: Raising the game
At the end of the victorious campaign at Asia Cup whose importance to this Indian team can’t be understated, came a revealing soundbite from captain Rohit Sharma. He talked about the potential of R Ashwin playing in the series against Australia — someone who wasn’t picked in the World Cup squad.
It shows that Rohit isn’t getting carried away by success in the tear-drop-shaped island; he realises the imbalance in the squad and its possible pitfalls.
The Asia Cup must have provided breathing space to the management to do a rethink. It was an all-boxes-checked tournament. They had entered it with questions: Can the rejigged middle-order hold up? Can the top order handle pressure? Can the lower order justify the exclusion of Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal? In the event, the top held its nerve against Pakistan in the second game, the middle more than held up in the first match against Pakistan, the lower order, led by Axar Patel, almost pulled off a lost cause against Bangladesh.
The seamers were fantastic, not just Mohammad Siraj but Jasprit Bumrah also showed he has retained the old bite despite a long injury layoff.
So if all is well, does this team really need Ashwin? Rohit’s comment shows the team hasn’t wandered into the realm of over-confidence. One look around the cricketing world would disabuse any team of notions of complacency.
Packed with genuine allrounders, Australia are marching on; armed with ambition and Bazball, England are rollicking; with Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller, South Africa are finding their way back to elite cricket; and despite the horrors in the final, Sri Lanka have shown how to cope with the absence of five frontline players to injury.
And no one will take Pakistan lightly despite their hiccups in this tournament. How India do now will depend on how thoroughly they plan for each game of the World Cup.