The IPL madness is over and the focus shifts to the 2019 World Cup.
The Indian team opens their campaign with a tough match against South Africa followed by dates with Australia and New Zealand. After a couple of other clashes, India meet the hosts and pre-tournament favourites England. And their squad looks strong.
SWOT analysis – a technique first used by Stanford’s Albert Humphrey – identifies internal strengths and weaknesses and also external threats and opportunities. Let’s run a SWOT analysis of the Indian side.
Strengths
The top three, especially Virat Kohli, is India’s biggest strength.
Openers Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan are awesome at the top, and Kohli at No.3 is the best in the business.
The cool mind of former skipper MS Dhoni is an asset as well. The bowling attack is good, with Jasprit Bumrah among the best in the world.
Spin twins Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal can create magic, and Ravindra Jadeja is a good back-up.
Hardik Pandya could be a destructive batsman in the slog overs.
Weaknesses
A non-existent middle order could be the bane of the Indian team, and Dhoni’s coolness could be offset by his undeniable slowing down.
His forte was taking the game to the wire and banking on remaining calm while the bowler would stutter so he could finish the game with a few lusty blows. That may backfire, as it has in some matches recently.
(AP Photo/David Rowland)
Kedar Jadhav may break down as his fitness is highly suspect. The team also may be one spinner too many and one quick short, although third seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar may sit out a few games as captain Virat may prefer to go in with two spinners.
Yet in England, where 350 is being chased with ease, having an iffy fifth bowler may be a huge risk.
Opportunities
The external opportunity that the team benefits from is the format of the tournament, where each team will play each other once and the top four teams will proceed to the semi-finals.
With the Indian team’s weak middle order and lack of fire power at the end, a shorter tournament like the 2007 World Cup may have been disastrous.
This long, drawn-out format will suit the Indian team better as a one-off bad day may not prove costly enough to prevent a semi-final entry.
Once in the semi-finals, the team will bank on its openers and Virat for success.
Threats
Every team has several breathtaking and devastating players who can take the game away from India in just a few overs, so every side needs to be on guard for each and every match.
India is likely to enter the semi-finals along with England, Australia and one out of the West Indies, South Africa, Pakistan and New Zealand.
The hosts have never won the World Cup before India won it in 2011. Australia then became the second host team to win the tournament in 2015. England could make it three in a row.
Ritesh Misra
Roar Guru
Thanks Paul, super points
Neel
Roar Guru
The top 3, Bumrah, Shami, Pandya and the two spinners, Chahal and Yadav will hold the keys for India. Especially the spinners. The twenty overs bowled by those two will dictate whether India wins or does not win the World Cup.
Gurlivleen Grewal
Roar Pro
Strengths aptly put. Few other things to add. Weakness - lack of plans - it shows in Kohli's IPL team, it shows in intl selection and strategy. Kohli is highly influenced by Dhoni who is a strong opponent of working on match-ups or plans. They still haven't figured out why Jadhav lost his mojo in last 2 games (bowling arm etc), which bowler is a threat and should be played out, what movement is hampering Rahul etc. Shastri is just a you can do it, you are the best, yes man! Then is Kuldeep's confidence - He has made decent comebacks from putdowns before but not picking up wickets and getting a boot from a ^&*^% IPL team could be tough to swallow. Opportunities - If the conditions are dry, hot - conditions like CT-17, the bowling attack becomes very potent, and their middle order weakness will get alleviated too. Threats - New ball attacks of SA, Aus can potentially dent the top-heavy batting line up. Injuries cloud over Jadhav.
Paul
Roar Guru
I was more interested to red this SWOT to see what you'd left out, rather than what you'd included, Ritesh. Here are a few suggested additions; STRENGTHS - lots of experience, experience playing together as a fairly settled team, experience playing in England, a dynamic captain, a lot of depth in both bowling in batting IF everyone's on form but above all, a winning ODI cultures against some of the best sides on recent times. WEAKNESSES - temperament can be tested, especially that of the dynamic captain, fielding is iffy at best and can deteriorate if pressured and an interesting preparation, mostly made up of T20 cricket. OPPORTUNITIES - India needs to take advantage of lead up games to not only iron out the kinks, but to try and address the glaring weaknesses; middle order batting & out-fielding. Once the tournament starts, opportunities will be largely dictated by ground & weather conditions. THREATS - India's main threat will be itself. This team has all the ingredients needed to win the Cup; a balanced team with some world class batting and bowling. It needs to stay humble and focused, because if the team becomes arrogant and thinks the Cups already won, there's at least 3 other sides capable of snatching the prize from them.