No time to rest. It was only on Thursday that India had an emphatic victory over Afghanistan at Kensington Oval, but before they could breathe, Rohit Sharma’s boys were already on their way again. This will be the case till the end of the World Cup. It is Antigua this time around with Bangladesh as the opponents, who have never matched well against India through the years.
When it comes to Vivian Richards Stadium, its pitch today is not quite the one it used to be. The pace and bounce which were once integral part of cricket on these shores are a thing of past; instead there is just some more spin going around.
As predictably as ever, India dropped from four-pacer theory in USA leg of World Cup into a three-spin line up whereby Kuldeep Yadav was added to team that already had Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel.
After early damage done by star pacer Jasprit Bumrah that had him take 2-32 against Afghans, Indian attack looks like a very balanced one.
In turn Bangladesh also played four spinners during their loss to Australia in Antigua last week in a day-nighter. Offies Mahedi Hassan and Mahmadullah will be backed by leggie Rishad Hossain and left-arm spinner Shakib Al Hassan.
Bangladesh looked deep on paper but none of those numbers count for much when you play India. Man-to-man, our spinners are better than theirs; our batters being good players of spin should also stand us in good stead.
Suryakumar Yadav is probably the best player of spin in limited-overs cricket and he has been in supreme touch of late scoring two back-to-back match-winning half-centuries. Whereas Shivam Dube is also a monster against spin and so is Rishabh Pant.
Virat Kohli still needs to score big but batting coach Vikram Rathour doesn’t seem to be concerned.
“Yes, we want him to score but even when he has not, the others have chipped in, which is a good sign. But Virat stays at the top of the order and we know he will get the runs,” Rathour said.
Despite having some confidence on how they are going about it, India cannot afford to take things lightly because complacency can start creeping in their camp especially against an underdog team on paper. Moreover there also this world cup format where one loss can make it hard for you to qualify especially with rain always lurking around.
Whilst India will pray that it does not turn out into a curtailed game – Antigua’s next couple of days shows no rain forecast at all – Rathour confirmed that they were doing everything possible for them not to lose focus before such a game.
“We know what we are expected to do and everyone understands that. There is absolutely no option for any kind of complacency,” Rathour said.
Also keeping Indian management on its toes is the fact that Bangladesh possess a bit more depth in their spin attack.
“They have got a few experienced spinners in conditions which are favorable for spin. And they are a good team; there’s also reason why they’re in Super 8,” warned batting coach.
Shakib, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Liton Das or Mustafizur Rahman have all been playing in India for quite some time and it is not like they have not disturbed Men in Blue at least once particularly in T20 series.
Mustafizur; the left arm medium pacer has shown great form of lately while playing for Chennai Super Kings and his slow cutters could work well on a pitch like Antigua’s. Moreover Bangladesh will try to find another gear especially because that is against India and their survival in the World Cup is at stake.India will therefore need to avoid any potential banana peels.
