ICC Men’s World Cup 2023: India emerging as favourites to win but needs to be ready for that one tight game

Five matches, five successful chases, and India is right on top. All looks good, the bowling has been on top with every bowler contributing but the batting has been set up by two players, Rohit Sharma at the top who has given in four games a rolling start, and Virat Kohli finishing off the games – the chase master.

Yes, Kl Rahul too has contributed significantly with the bat along with Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli but I am afraid the rest of the players like Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer have not gone on to play long innings and finish games. It does not come into the limelight now as India has been winning but if there will be a tight game where India might lose Rohit and Virat early, then what?

India was going in the same way in the 2019 World Cup where Rohit scored five hundreds and Virat scored a fifty in almost every game but came that one bad day against New Zealand in the semifinals at Manchester where India lost Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and KL Rahul for nothing. And the rest is history as India who were outright favorites lost to the Kiwis. So was the case in the 2017 Champions Trophy finals against Pakistan where the big three failed and India succumbed to their biggest loss in the finals after dominating every game?

Yesterday’s match was one game where India was tested against the Kiwis and would have struggled had Virat Kohli not been there to finish the game. This is where India will have to guard themselves and not depend on big two stars Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli all the time. 

Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer will have to take up the responsibility to finish the game if the big boys fail. Mind you, Hardik Pandya has yet to face a ball till now and one hopes he recovers for the England game and gets time in the middle and score runs when the chips are down. So will be the likes of either Shardul Thakur or Ashwin whichever all-rounder plays as our three bowlers Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, and Siraj can’t be expected to finish the tight game.

We still have four league games and it’s time India addresses this point immediately before the knockout as this is where my fear lies. Moreover, India has chased in all games and it’s time Rohit Sharma, if wins the toss decides to bat first and see how it is setting a target and how his bowlers respond in defending a target in dewy conditions. 

These are the plan B and C which needs to be addressed sooner than later as India would have that one game in the knockout which will be an acid test that they will have to pass and to get through that they need to address the above points soon.

India last won an ICC 50 over World Cup in 2011 at home and everyone feels India is the favorite this time around. They were favorites in 1987 too when England beat them at Wankhede stadium, and they were favorites in 1996 too but Sri Lanka stunned them, this is India’s World Cup to be lost, and Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid will have to be wary of that one game and how they can come out of it as MS Dhoni’s team did in 2011.