Indian fans always want a Hero, more so a Superhero whom they can make their God. Earlier it was Sachin and now its Kohli. But what everyone forgets is that even The Great Sachin failed to win the World Cup in 1996 and 2003.
Its a team game helped by individual brilliance. You will hardly see a world cup winning team with a poor middle order and without 2 all-rounders. More often than not you need your middle order and your all-rounders to bail you out in a knockout match like a semi-final or a final.
The Australian team of 2015 world cup had – Maxwell, Watson, Faulkner (Allrounders), Clarke at 4. In the Quarter Final – Watson and Maxwell won them the match. Watson came in at 59-3 when Wahab Riaz was delivering a fascinating spell of fast bowling and finished the game. It was in this match only that Maxwell had taken 2 wickets of Mishbah and Umar Akmal in the middle overs to ensure that Aussies didn’t have to chase many.
The Indian team of 2011 world cup had – Yuvraj, Dhoni, and Raina in their middle order and Sehwag was there to roll his arm over on a turning pitch. What Yuvraj did in the world cup is known to all, be it with the bat again Australia in Quater Finals, or with the ball in the middle overs in the finals and many many more times. India’s middle order was as strong as their top order with Raina scoring those important fast runs against Pakistan and Dhoni’s masterstroke in finals.
The Australian team of 2007 world cup had – Hussey, Watson, Symonds as their middle order who not only bailed Australia out with bat and ball but also gave them those extra 15-20 runs in every match with their fielding.
At present India’s top 3 batsmen are best in the world by a long margin, fast bowling also looks good and spinners are capable of taking those crucial wickets in the middle but then that’s it. Middle order story is horrible and has been a point of discussion since eternity. Hardik Pandya and Kedar Jadhav are our two all-rounders. Pandya’s batting against fast bowlers is worse than Alan Donald’s running in 1999 semi-final. And Pandya has to face fast bowlers more often than not while batting at number 7. Jadhav is a utility player with his underarm bowling but his fielding and running between the wickets is awful and he bats just above Dhoni who is the fastest runner between the wickets.
Raydu’s performance in the Windies series does end the discussion for the number 4 slot but he is yet to prove that he can be match winner at that position and can finish the games when the top 3 fails which is bound to happen once in a while against a good bowling opponent as we saw in the 1-2 defeat against England.
With only 13 matches to play before the 1st match of the world cup, India needs to solve the issue of their middle order, all-rounders and their ground fielding otherwise be ready for a repeat of 1996 and 2003. Kohli will do what Sachin did but remember he is not Superman.
competitivecricketcordon 