Pieces falling together for India

There’s one game to go against Australia on Wednesday, but if that winning momentum continues, which it seems like it will, Rohit Sharma’s men will go into the World Cup as favourites.

It’s tough to tell if this is a case of ‘peaking at the right time’ or ‘peaking prematurely’. While the distinction will be lost to those geared to hinge their hopes on the Indian cricket team irrespective, those in the thankless, oft-criticised business of pattern recognition and reasoning, will view the happenings of the last two weeks with a cautious eye.

It could be a premonition born out of meditative cynicism, but isn’t that often the case when something looks too good to be true?

Take the events of the last few weeks into consideration. India dominated the rain-laced Asia Cup and came away with a trophy. And they looked better in unsympathetically dominating the last two One-Day Internationals against Australia. 

There’s one game to go against the same opposition on Wednesday, but if that winning momentum continues, which it seems like it will, Rohit Sharma’s men will go into the World Cup as favourites. 

Actually, they will fancy themselves either way because their patience with certain players seems to have borne fruit, and their combination concerns seem to have exited the conversation.

As it stands, India’s World Cup-bound squad looks as good as it possibly can. Perhaps way better than even the team management anticipated because until a few days ago there was still some perturbation. 

Shreyas Iyer’s back spasms. KL Rahul’s wicketkeeping fitness. R Ashwin’s relevance in 50-over cricket. Suryakumar Yadav’s aversion to runs in ODIs.

One of those questions is yet to be answered because Rahul, who was in horrid touch behind the stumps in the opening ODI against Australia, handed over the gloves to Kishan for the second game. His eggshell thighs were rather chipper devoid of the squatting responsibility. 

As for the other queries, Shreyas came up with a career-saving century and looked stellar doing it, save for that gnarled war cry in the aftermath. 

Ashwin defied the he’s-not-so-good-at-white-ball-cricket narrative with figures of 3 for 41 in seven impressive overs. Though a laggard on the field, Ashwin is still an option worth having, especially since there isn’t an yet update on Axar Patel’s partly-torn, mostly-frail quadriceps.

And then there was gaiety in Suryakumar reminding us that he hasn’t entirely forgotten how to bat. 

Those 72 runs from 37 balls, which came in typical T20-SKY fashion, were not just contributory to India getting to 399 for their 99-run win on Sunday, they also helped the management relax a tad because their decision to persist with the middle-order bat had been under scrutiny for a while. 

All of these signs, and that enviable pace unit, would naturally cajole the mind of a fan to believe that this side has everything it takes to become a three-time World Cup winner in the weeks to come. Also, the lesser said about Shubman Gill's impeccable form the better for fear of jinxing the run.  

But what of the fact that their fielding has been atrocious and looks like it won’t get any better when the lights get brighter? 

What of the fact that Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have spent more time resting than playing in recent times? 

What of the fact that many of them, even if ready now, are only just coming back from injuries, and are going to be stretched beyond themselves over the course of the next two months?

Surely, coach Rahul Dravid is aware of the fickleness of it all. After all, he was the captain when an absolutely world-class team crashed out in the league phase during the 2007 World Cup. 

So, he won’t be counting his chickens before they hatch. Neither should we.