Team India miss killer instinct in their last-minute preparation for Asia Cup and CWC 2023. India beat WI by 2-1 margin in ODIs but, WI aren't qualified for ICC Men’s ODI World Cup 2023.
With the 200-run victory during the third of the three-match One Day International (ODI) series over West Indies, who won’t be part of the upcoming ICC Men’s ODI World Cup 2023 in India, visitors India marked their most consecutive ODI series wins (13) against a team over a period of 16 long years.
But this 2-1 series victory especially against a team which of late is struggling in all formats of the game might not give India the same level of confidence before the mega event. It will be easy to forget their six-wicket defeat in the second ODI after this series win, but the past has shown that these one or two losses here and there have hurt India enough to continue their 10-year wait for an ICC trophy.
India have misfired at crunched moments since 2021
Since the start of 2021, India have been part of 14 ODI series out of which they have come up on the right side of the coin on 10 occasions. But a closer look might paint a different picture.
After India’s 2-1 series victory against England at home at the start of 2021, they lost a three-match away series against South Africa by a 3-0 margin before winning five back-to-back ODI series but three of those series wins came against West Indies and Zimbabwe. India didn’t enjoy a great year in 2022 in the 50-over format losing by 1-0 in the away three-match ODI series against New Zealand, before being handed a 2-1 series defeat against hosts Bangladesh, who are seventh in the ICC ODI team ranking at the moment.
They again won two ODI series against a weak Sri Lanka side and New Zealand but ended up on the losing side to Australia by a 2-1 margin in March 2023. But the issue with India is not getting any convincing series victory against the strong sides; five of their 3-0 margin victories in the three-match series have come up against teams who are under eighth rank in the ICC ODI team ranking except New Zealand. In the aforementioned period, India have won 27 out of 42 ODIs with two washout affairs.
There is a difference when their series results are compared to Australia and England; Since the start of 2021, Australia have won five of their seven series while their two 3-0 series victory came up against the Blackcaps and the defending champions England. Their two series defeats came against Pakistan and Sri Lanka. England, in the same period, have won four of their nine ODI series.
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Lack of aggressive brand of cricket in ODI format
Time has changed and that too at a rapid pace, but the run rate of India’s batting still remains at comparatively weak in the 50-over format. There were those times when any score between 250-275 would have been hard to chase while in the recent past, even a total of 350-375 isn’t safe with batters smashing every delivery from the start of their innings.
Since the start of 2021 in 27 games, England have fired at a run rate of 6.17 with their highest score of 498, while India have batted at a run rate of 5.96 in 42 games in the same period. Dissection of these numbers paint another picture; India have a run rate of 5.75 from over 11 to 40 since the start of 2021 while England have a run rate of 6.01 in the same phase and period. It has been a tendency for India to slow down in the middle overs and gifting the momentum back to the opposition.
The recent example would be the third ODI against West Indies where at 208/2 after 30 overs, India was looking good to touch the 400-run mark but surprisingly, they strolled up to 247/4 in 40 overs; just two boundaries and one six were cracked in that 10-over period as India had to be satisfied with 351/5 in their 50-overs. These missed chances may come back to haunt them at the crucial stage of the upcoming competitions.
Last minute changes in selection could damage India’s team stability
With just a handful of weeks left before the Asia Cup and the World Cup, in an ideal world, India should have been going with a balanced and settled team for most of the ODIs ahead of the world event. But Indian team management’s decision to rest regular skipper Rohit Sharma and their star batter Virat Kohli has raised a few eyebrows.
The experimental acts could have been performed earlier as a winning mentality along with a familiar squad for a long period could gel the team in a better shape. However, India head coach Rahul Dravid said that the team was “not worried about every single game and single series” and was trying few other players ahead of the World Cup.
“We’ll always look at the bigger picture. At this stage in the cycle with the Asia Cup and World Cup coming up, we have to look at the bigger picture because of some of the injuries we have,” Dravid spoke at the end of the second WI-India ODI game. “We can’t worry about single game and every single series; if we do that, it will be a mistake.”
Having said that, winning is like a good habit: the more one team wins, the more confidence they gain from their performances and in all those mega events, it’s all about that one bad game that could possibly spoil one’s four years of hard work in a blink of an eye and India are familiar with this disaster on numerous occasions.
During the last ODI World Cup in 2019, India’s main issue, going into the World Cup, was their number 4 in the batting line-up; after more than four years since that event, they haven’t resolved the problem yet as they are still trying various options at that position. In all the three ODIs, India have used three different ‘number 4’.
With India continuing with Kuldeep Yadav for an extended period, they perhaps have made their mind about their leading spinner in the playing eleven. But fair enough to say, nothing is surprising in the team selection of Indian cricket at the moment.
With Virat Kohli being rested, by the time Asia Cup begins, he would be going to the tournament with no ODI game under his belt for six long months to face the likes of Shaheen Shah Afridi and co. Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj would be on the list of the same issue. Before any world event, the best scenario would be going with an almost certain team for that particular format and play consistent cricket with a killer instinct. India have been a powerhouse in the 50-over format for a long time but why is the killer instinct missing for a long time now? The questions keep on gathering one after another.
India will play their next ODI in the Asia Cup 2023 when they will take on Pakistan on September 2 at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium in Pallekele.