Remember back to the 2003 World Cup when opponents facing Australia had to see off Glenn McGrath and Jason Gillespie in the opening spell and if they were still standing, they then had to face the thunderbolts of Brett Lee and the accuracy of Andy Bichel… and if that wasn’t enough they had to endure the left arm leggies of Brad Hogg and deceptive part-timers of Andrew Symonds!
Well, India’s bowling attack may not be quite as good – but it stacks up in intimidation. As does the batting lineup. When it came to the Aussies’ 2003 team, Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist were a lot to deal with at the top, with Ricky Ponting in at No.3. If the top order didn’t click, you had the middle-order geniuses of Damien Martyn, Darren Lehmann, Michael Bevan and the power hitting of Symonds.
That was a team that gave the opponents nightmares but, at present, there is a similar team that’s giving nightmares to their WC opponents: India.
The World Cup isn’t over yet and India haven’t won anything yet, but the intimidation and intent of this team is very reminiscent of the 2003 Aussie team. You have the top order of Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli, a fearsome top order with each batsman able to bat the whole 50 overs.
The middle order of Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya are pretty settled and play the spin and conditions very well. At No.7, you have Ravindra Jadeja – the rockstar as dubbed by the late great Shane Warne. The bowling contingent of Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj and Kuldeep Yadav is the best attack going in the tournament. A fearsome team, isn’t it?
India have won seven out of seven matches comprehensively without any sweat. Aside from the first five overs of the second innings against Australia where they lost three wickets for very little and a brief period while chasing against New Zealand, India haven’t been tested. The 2003 Aussies breezed through their competition in a similar fashion 20 years ago.
Virat Kohli. (Photo by Pankaj Nangia/Getty Images)
What really makes this Indian team so dangerous at the moment is the fact that they have 11 match winners on the field with five different players having won the player of the match awards already. The team looks to be gelling, there is a genuine respect and happiness for each other and that results in a team spirit that could inspire them to WC greatness.
One thing we all witnessed with Australia in 2003 was the hunger to win the World Cup and the spirit of “whatever it takes” to win it. That’s the thing I notice in this Indian team, especially in their senior players. Not to forget, India have at least four-to-five players in their late 30s with this potentially being their last World Cup. The young players are hungrier as well to win for them. There is a nice mix up of experienced and young players. This eagerness and fighting spirit the Indian team possesses is unparalleled to any other team.
Not everything can be perfect. The Indian team has some weaknesses with the biggest being the batting depth. They tried to bolster that balance by putting in Shardul Thakur but that came at the expense of bowling. The top order does struggle with left-arm pace and if the opponents get two or even three of their top-order batsmen, they are prone to a collapse. The ultimate weakness: India still depends too much on Sharma and Kohli.
For now, having not had to face the red-hot Proteas yet, India have ticked all the boxes and are looking pretty strong for their third World Cup and their first ICC tournament win from 2013.
With the crowd support they have and the home conditions, it could be considered an upset if any other team wins instead of India.
Andrew
Roar Rookie
Aus didn't breeze through the 03 cup. We were in big trouble in a couple of games (Eng and NZ). Andy bichel saved us in those - with the bat as well as ball. 07 was where we smashed everyone The trouble may come when India do have a tight game in the last 2 knockout matches - will they hold their nerve.
sedz
Roar Rookie
I was wrong. I think Aus won all the game in 2003 WC. It was in 1996(I thought it was in 03) that one game was called off/awarded to opposition because Aus didn't travel to Srilanka for the game.
Kamran
Roar Rookie
Hi Dave thanks for going through my article really appreciate it mate. I agree with all points of yours. I had written something else regarding this Indian bowling line up and kept it on the same level as the aussies of 2003 but i feel while editing they might have changed some lines of mine. For me they are on par with the bowling line up of aussies in 2003 the batting however hasn't shown its full potential yet with lots of it depending on Sharma and Kohli
BigGordon
Roar Rookie
Prior to the tournament, the hype and talk was around England first and foremost then India. Many of those I talked with had these two as the likely finalists with both getting through the group stages pretty comfortably. That one team has dominated while the other has struggled, wasn't mentioned at all! There's no doubt India has a lot of supporter pressure and obviously the India media will be fanning this pressure with expectations of an Indian tournament victory. Sadly people seem to forget that in white ball cricket, it takes very little for even the best teams to lose against others, hence my thoughts about doing a comparison after the event is finished
BigGordon
Roar Rookie
Can you explain please?
DaveJ
Roar Rookie
I would say India are as clear a favourite to win a CWC halfway through the tournament as the West Indies in 1979 and 1983 or Australia in 2003. Though Australia had one very average game in 2003 when they only scraped past England’s score of 204 with eight wickets down thanks to a rearguard action between Bichel and Bevan. My memory is a bit rusty but I imagine the home teams in 2011, 2015 and 2019 were all favourites but not by such big margins. I don’t know what you mean by “India’s bowling attack may not be quite as good – but it stacks up in intimidation” comparing to Australia in 2003. They can only be thought of as intimidating by being as good, they are aren’t especially fast, or hostile with body language. But I’d agree they are just as good on Indian wickets. One X factor in some games seems to be the changing conditions under lights. It was very noticeable in the India - Sri Lanka game where the amount of movement at the beginning of the two innings was chalk and cheese. The Indian bowlers were very good, but I’ve never seen Siraj getting that kind of movement even with the red ball, and Bumrah got extravagant movement in the air and off the pitch. There was something of the same difference in the NZ-SA game, and to a lesser extent in SA-AUS and a few others. India will hope it doesn’t bite them in the finals. You should never have a 50 overs World Cup with day-night games in conditions with this kind of variation. I’d say India shouldn’t be allowed to host them at certain times of the year, but we know that won’t happen.
Kamran
Roar Rookie
Hey Big Gord. Nice to see you read and comment on my article as always!! Yes I do agree I have written it a bit earlier and I have mentioned that in my article but what I really meant is that the hype and talks circulating around the wc seems to be like of 2003 Aussies . There is a difference in playing at home vs playing at other countries but if we do take that in account over the past decade I don't remember any team dominating like this in a home wc. You go back to 2019 England Stumbled to win the 2019 wc. India didn't quite dominate the 2011 wc but were good enough to win. Let's see the t20 wc of last year where Australia were supposed to win the wc in a pretty dominating manner but instead got out in group stages. It's a different kind of pressure when you are playing with a pressure of 1 billion people's hope's!!. South Africa do look like a team that has potential to defeat India but their gameplan of just batting first and winning pales in comparison of India where they can win batting first as well as bowling first as well
Dwanye
Roar Rookie
Do you mean didn’t win every game at the WC?
sedz
Roar Rookie
Probably 2003 Aus team didn't win everything. Lets learn to appreciate otherwise.
BigGordon
Roar Rookie
The only problem with this sort of piece happens if/when Inda does stumble
boes
Roar Pro
I like the fact he's put it out there before its over - its much easier to write in retrospect. However I hope they have at least one stumble...preferably against Aus in a semi or final.
Dwanye
Roar Rookie
Hello Big Gord. My thoughts also. Super strong team, top of ladder, stacked with talent, and will probably win. But as good as 2003 or other Aus teams or W.I. ones? Outside home World Cup is telling
BigGordon
Roar Rookie
I wonder if you didn’t write this piece a few weeks too early? There’s no doubt this is a very strong Indian team and they certainly stand comparison with other strong teams from previous World Cups, but they have to win it first. Maybe you could revisit this after the final? You might also want to think about the differences between playing and winning in home conditions versus playing and winning in another country. Maybe too, you could include the West Indies teams from 1975 and 1979. They would have given any current team a serious run for their money.