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Opinion
When you weigh up all the advantages that are on India’s side, they should rule the cricketing globe.
The newly crowned world’s most populous nation holds all the cards when it comes to cricket’s finances and the explosion in popularity of the Indian Premier League means there is no longer any dispute about the true epicentre of the sport.
As an increasingly prosperous nation, it’s almost inconceivable that India doesn’t dominate in all three formats.
Since they won the first T20 World Cup, they’ve come up short in each of the next seven tournaments, making the final just once.
Heading into hosting the ODI World Cup, which begins on Thursday, the Indian side has again been listed as the the favourite with the bookmakers.
Rohit Sharma (L) and Jaydev Unadkat. (Photo by Tharaka Basnayaka/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
But after their breakthrough triumph in 1983 on the back of Kapil Dev’s heroics, they’ve only lifted the trophy one more time – 12 years ago when the tournament was last held on their soil.
India have made both World Test Championship finals since the revamped format kicked off a few years ago – and lost both times, firstly to New Zealand and then Australia this June.
They continually flatter to deceive.
India really should be like the All Blacks – a side that rarely loses when they put their full strength team onto the field and, for the past couple of decades, converts that superiority into World Cups.
Instead they are more like the Wallabies of the past couple of decades – a lot of talk, well-known players on big dollars but little to show for it in the trophy cabinet.
At the crux of the matter for India in cricket is that when it all boils down to it, a game of cricket can only be decided by the 11 players on the field.
For all the riches and administrative heft that India holds as the source of roughly 80% of cricket’s global revenue, what ultimately only matters is what the players can do from a distance of 22 yards.
Australian cricket legend Greg Chappell, who coached the Indian men’s team from 2005 until their early exit from the ODI World Cup two years later, has long contended that India’s great strength is that they could field multiple teams that could compete on the international circuit such is the depth of talent that comes when you have a population that can be written with 10 numbers.
But as great as it is to have depth, you can still only pick 11 players in any given game … unless the BCCI can manage to get another rule changed to suit their wishes.
Team selection is much more stable nowadays than the era before Chappell coached when factionalism often dictated which players represented the national side.
Perhaps India’s relative lack of success can be attributed to the pressure of the expectations placed on the national heroes who represent the “blue billion”.
There is no doubt some of the greatest players of modern times have been Indian stars like Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ravichandran Aswhin and in more recent times, Jasprit Bumrah, Rishabh Pant and Shubman Gill.
Virat Kohli. (Photo by Sarah Reed/Getty Images)
After falling at the final hurdle in the T20 World Cup last year to England in Australia, this tournament could be the last chance for a player like Rohit to claim an ICC trophy.
There will be a low tolerance for anything apart from victory.
At 36, the long-serving opener has enjoyed something of a renaissance in 2023 to ensure he will lead the side into the showpiece event, amassing 658 runs at 50.61 with a near career-best strike rate of 110.03.
The rise of Shubman Gill as a top-order tornado, Kohli’s continued excellence and the power of Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya adds up to India having the most explosive batting unit among the 10 nations chasing the trophy.
Their bowling attack is also arguably the best particularly in home conditions.
Jasprit Bumrah’s successful return from a long-term back injury, the precision of Mohammed Siraj, combined with the spin of Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav and Ashwin, spells trouble for opposition batting line-ups.
Suryakumar Yadav. (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)
Ashwin only got a late call-up due to a thigh injury to Axar Patel, such is India’s overflowing spin stocks.
The tournament gets under way with a rematch of the 2019 final between Cup holders England and New Zealand on Thursday with India opening their campaign against Australia on Sunday in Chennai.
It’s hard to read too much into the recent three-game warm-up series between the nations which India won 2-1 given both sides rested several key players.
The tournament final is a long way off on the horizon on November 19 and with all 10 teams playing each other to qualify for a four-team semi-final stage, it is not essential to win first up like it would be in a pool format.
It’s a marathon, not a sprint, and building momentum to be peaking at the end of the tournament is crucial.
But if the Indians lose on Sunday, the already intense scrutiny on the side will increase even further.
Anything less than going all the way to World Cup glory will be considered a failure and continue their reputation as one of sport’s greatest under-achievers.