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How India are placed ahead of the Cricket World Cup

Virat Kohli continues to amaze fans. (AFP PHOTO/ PUNIT PARANJPE)
Roar Pro
18th January, 2015
3

The teams are now back in coloured clothes as the Cricket World Cup approaches. India enjoys playing in this format, and have been in pretty good form lately, thrashing an under-prepared Sri-lanka 5-0 at home.

Players like Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma show tremendous control and skills in this format. And while playing in Australia and New Zealand will be not easy for the players as the pace, bounce and size of the grounds are all a level above what they are used to, it will be important to see how Indian players adjust to these conditions.

Most of the current Indian players have been in Australia for over a month, playing in the Test series. This would have been of invaluable assistance, letting them gain experience in the conditions and adjusting to them.

While the top and middle order looks almost settled in the form of Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Kohli, Rahane, Raina and Dhoni, the bowling combination would be a bit of worry for the captin, as their bowlers struggled to get going in Test series, and not much is likely to change in the tri-series.

Dhoni, being a smart ODI captain, he will look to rely more on his slow bowlers like Raina, Jadeja, Patel and Ashwin to contain the batsmen, the strategy he perfected in recent years and which won them the Champions trophy in England in 2013.

While Dhawan struggled in the previous Test series opening the batting, it will be interesting to see if he will be given more chances for the entire tri-series. India could go with Sharma and Rahane as opening pair, if Dhawan fails.

Dhoni hasn’t played much after coming back from injury, and he will need to spend some time in the middle to get going. It will be interesting to see how left-arm spinner Axar Patel performs given a chance, as he has shown good promise in the ODIs he’s played, but we have to remember that he has not played outside India until now. It will be an altogether different game to bowl on Australian pitches.

Shami and Yadav had bowled lot of overs in Test series and they should now have a good amount of experience as to how important line and length is to contain the batsmen. They will need to make use of that experience to give India good start in the competition.

Team India also need to be careful in selecting their playing 11 for this tri-series, in order not to get important players injured and keep them fresh for the mega event starting next month.

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The Test series and ongoing tri-series is the best opportunity for team India to get used to the playing conditions and gain much-needed momentum to go into the World Cup, which would be necessary if they are to defend the title.

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