Red-hot Indians in torrid Mumbai

Tribune News Service

Rohit Mahajan

Mumbai, October 31

Perhaps it was the warm water of the Arabian Sea, reeking of salt and fish — and, to be absolutely honest, muck — that kept the Indian team away from the ground today… But really, who in their right mind would wish to toil in the 36°C sun at the seaside Wankhede Stadium here after being in less torrid climes of Lucknow (31°C) or, better still, Dharamsala (20°C)? Especially if it’s the Indian boys, who’ve won all six games in the World Cup, five of them with complete domination?

The six wins have put India practically into the semifinals, and they can afford to relax; thus it was today that only those who’ve been dogged by specific troubles, or those who haven’t had a decent knock in the middle, who opted for the optional practice session at the Wankhede.

Virat Kohli, maker of 354 runs so far, but a nine-ball 0 in the previous game, didn’t show up; captain Rohit Sharma, with 398 runs in six innings, clearly does not have any specific trouble that needs solving and didn’t show up. The top batters could easily afford a day off, and so could the bowling attack, fresh after the fine feat of defending a less-than-staggering 229 in Lucknow against England.

Ishan Kishan, KL Rahul and Suryakumar Yadav attended the nets and had a bat, and Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja also focussed on batting.

Shreyas Iyer, the third man after Kohli and Rohit to bat in all six innings, has reason to be worried. Just shy of 29 years, he’s yet to make himself indispensable to the Indian team. His record in the World Cup so far — 134 runs in six innings, average 33.50 — is less than mind-boggling. His average is boosted by two unbeaten innings against two lesser teams, Afghanistan and Pakistan; he would be worried about his poor dismissals against the three best pace attacks he’s faced in the tournament — a 0 with a lazy drive against Australia’s Josh Hazlewood in Chennai, defeated for 33 by a fine short ball from New Zealand’s Trent Boult in Dharamsala, and a 4 before being taken down by a short ball from England’s Chris Woakes in Lucknow.

No wonder, then, that Iyer was prepared for the short ball, and peppered with short ones by throwdown experts D Raghavendra, Nuwan Seneviratne and batting coach Vikram Rathour. Even head coach Rahul Dravid chipped in with throwdowns, though he pitched a few up, too, to allow Iyer to open his arms and drive.

After an India-darshan spanning four weeks and six cities, the southernmost being Chennai and northernmost Dharamsala, the Indians are back to a coastal metropolis; and back against Sri Lanka at the venue of the greatest glory for India in this century, the 2011 World Cup. After that famous win in the final, fashioned by MS Dhoni and Gautam Gambhir on April 2, 2011, India have played only five ODIs at the Wankhede, and lost three of them. But on Thursday, at the first India-Sri Lanka clash at the Wankhede since 2011, India would be overwhelming favourites — but the passion of the fans isn’t matching the temperature, which, regrettably, is refusing to fall.

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