India, New Zealand, and the world’s early (un)pragmatic approaches

India, New Zealand, and the world’s early (un)pragmatic approaches

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Sitting at Leeds press box, Rohit Sharma was not quite sure whether the team would travel to Birmingham or Manchester. It was evening in England and he insisted the team wouldn’t mind travelling anywhere of the two beautiful cities that had been home to some glorious cricket in the last few weeks.

It just came after Sri Lanka gifted them a win as their bowlers decided to involve in the celebration of neighbouring revelry; a celebration that would be anyway fitting for the way the teams have stood by each other year after year. After a few hours, South Africa involved themselves in some giant-killing and a Faf ton was enough to overcome the charisma and grit of David Warner and Alex Carey. 

The early social media announcements of an India-England semi-final was shattered, and now New Zealand, for all their ability to stay clear of any headline-making proclamations and the ability to float under the radar, stayed as silent as humanly possible. After all, it is about India and their quest to make Virat Kohli the greatest ever Indian captain ever lived and give MS Dhoni a deserving farewell. It is always about India, you see.

Seven wins, one loss, and one wash-out truly put India as the favourites and despite the apparent weaknesses in the side, nothing has seemed to have stopped their journey at a rapid pace. However, as the semi-final beckons, the question should rather be how much fair is it to sign off a team that has perhaps two of the best limited-overs batsmen in their side and one pacer who has the ability to dominate any opposition with an equal amount of pace and swing? Well, India have a tremendous record against the opposition this year, but what about the conditions? Is it really going to be easy peasy for them against the Kiwis?

New Zealand are partly to blame for this reputation as well. They started the tournament on a brilliant note - majorly thanks to the easy draw that they had been provided in the beginning - but as the weather became drier and the pitch became slower, the impact of Boult has been automatically reduced, and the regular failure of their opening batsmen didn’t really help the cause as well. They have also partly been haunted by trying to play to the preconceived notions, instead of adopting to the conditions. In the World Cup, the pitches have generally been slower and not as good for batting as it was during England’s lead-up for the mega event, epitomized by the ICC regulated pitch preparations, which resulted in players like Martin Guptill, Tom Latham, and Colin Munro not being able to play their natural game. 

But it is New Zealand, one of modern-day cricket’s classic ensemble artists. They are the first team to pick you up if you fail in your valiant run-chase, they will be the last team to give a send-off after a wicket, or they don’t come hard at you when the chips are down. This made them all the more likeable, all the more lovable, but what is this cute preconception? The least we can do is to accord some respect and take the game as challenging as we can. After all, New Zealand is the only team, sans Australia circa 2019, to pose India a challenge in the last three years at home. Trent Boult’s left-arm swing has never been right for the Indians and despite all Tom Latham failures in this World Cup, there is an umpteen reminder of how he easily “swept” Indian spinners to submission in his last two trips to India. 

There are two ways to look at it. First - New Zealand’s reputation of taking the league stage by storm and then suddenly failing to muster any momentum in the knockouts and the second being India’s unshakeable belief and the ability to stay clear of the outside pressure. That has made it a massive difference as India smashed the teams with effortless ease, and even when the middle-order faltered, the top order had ensured that they were in the game for the major part of the innings.

However, a clear look at the Indian team gives a sneak-peak why New Zealand, in no way, is an easy opposition. Rohit Sharma may have taken the World Cup by storm, but the probable rain forecast on Tuesday in Manchester would keep Trent Boult interested, who has dismissed the Indian opener four times in the past, giving away runs at an SR of 64.70. Kane Williamson, for all his weakness against spinners, is still one of the finest ODI batsmen as is Ross Taylor, who, on his day, can blow any bowling attacks to smithereens. 

Moving away from the tactical superiority or team balance, it is the dismissiveness that has to be the biggest fault for the Indian fans. When the team travelled to India in 2016, New Zealand squandered the series back at 2-2 before an Amit Mishra masterclass helped India win. 2017 series was far better for the Kiwis as India didn’t really have a way out before marginally winning the series 2-1. Fair enough that the Kiwis were battered at home in January but nothing explains the plain dismissiveness. 

Come tomorrow, the teams will battle it out and hopefully, New Zealand will pull off that avatar again which has made them one of the finest limited-overs sides in the history of ODI cricket. Maybe Ross Taylor will play one of the knocks of the tournament, or Rohit Sharma will finally get the better of the thundering Trent Alexander Boult. The storylines will matter as much as the big eventual result, but some respect to the Kiwis will give a better feel to the TV sets across the offices, pan shops, and the streaming sites as well. Feel that and celebrate a great game of cricket.

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