Rahul Dravid, India’s head coach, indicated that the team has made peace with the absence of all-rounder Hardik Pandya, and all the changes it has brought along. Primary amongst them is having to play with just five bowlers (three seamers + two seamers), which they did successfully in their previous two fixtures.
“We have our wrong-footed, inswinging menace to call upon,” joked Dravid in the press conference in Kolkata on the eve of their game against South Africa, referring to Virat Kohli. While Kohli remains the best sixth bowling option in the team, India haven’t really had the need to turn to him regularly, considering the damage the rest of the attack has done. In fact, the only time Kohli bowled in this World Cup was to complete a Pandya over when the latter hobbled off injured in the game against Bangladesh.
Yet, this is one area where oppositions would look to target as Temba Bavuma hinted. “They obviously only have five bowlers, so they can, I guess, be put under pressure if one of their bowlers is not on their day,” he said.
Dravid’s jest faded out to seriousness, quickly. “I mean, obviously, the sixth option is something that Hardik gave us. But you’re right as well that we have been playing the last four games without the sixth bowling option. We also played a couple of games in the Australia series before the World Cup without the sixth option. We won two of our games, both in Mohali and in Indore, when we played only with five bowling options in those games as well.
“So, we have responded really well to that challenge. Yes, of course, we probably won’t have that sixth bowling option in these games. But the response of the team and the players has been really good when we have not had it. So, I think we have played enough games without having it. And we seem to have done pretty well,” he explained.
The danger of an off-colour bowler in a five-man attack – a possibility that seems unlikely with what India have done recently – aside, the lack of dependable batting credentials lower down the order is one of the effects of losing Pandya. Dravid chose to throw his weight behind the tail, in response to a question on how India’s batting approach could change.
“I don’t think we are going to think about it too much. I think there’s only been one game where we’ve probably felt the need for the number eight and nine which was a game against England in Lucknow and actually our number eight and nine – after the seventh wicket the next couple of wickets gave us 46 critical runs on a tricky wicket.
“So, I think we’ve got to have confidence in our 8, 9, 10, 11. The ones that we have now, I think they are working very hard and they are doing the best that they can. And I don’t think the batters really, to be honest, need to think about it or worry about it. I think if you play good cricket through the 50 overs and play according to the situation and what the demands of the game are, I think there’s enough quality in that top seven to look after itself,” he suggested.
The numbers though indicate that India have tapered off with the bat on a couple of occasions after getting a solid foundation, although they’ve had a couple of useful contributions from the likes of Suryakumar Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja to offset some of that impact.
“It’s nice to have that experience of people like him [Suryakumar Yadav] and Jadeja at the back end just to be able to read that situation and play according to the situation. And that’s really important in one-day cricket. T20 cricket sometimes, you know, you just have to play in one way. One day, sometimes lower down the order you can actually… you need to be able to be smart enough of how to read a game and the situation,” Dravid mentioned.
Picking out Jadeja for special praise for his all-round contributions, he said, “Not easy for someone like him because he bats at 7, doesn’t play for three or four games, and then has to come in and again play quite an important innings every time.
“So that’s the tough thing for guys who bat at 6 and 7. When you’re batting in the top three, you know that every single game you’re going to get an opportunity to play. Sometimes at six and seven, you’re not really sure when you’re going to get a chance. Or even sometimes you won’t even get a game. Or you won’t even get a hit like they haven’t for the first two or three games. He’s just come in and played critical knocks. Even the last one, he was able to really give us that little bit of a flip, a nice little 30 there. Got a 40 in the two games before that, I think. And so that’s really good.”
