<p>Ahmedabad: Defending champions India may have chugged along smoothly into the Super Eights of the ICC T20 World Cup with an unblemished record, but with bigger battles ahead, they will need to address their middle-overs’ woes their batters are enduring if they wish to avoid any slip-ups.</p><p>Having arrived at the marquee event with nearly all their batters in blazing form, they were supposed to set the stage on fire but but have been confounded by surprisingly challenging pitches and opposition spinners who have extracted maximum advantage with a fine cocktail of skill and smarts, they have struggled to exert their usual dominance in totality that they are accustomed to on flat tracks. </p>.ICC T20 World Cup 2026 | Hybrid Model a logistical nightmare .<p>The pattern in India’s four wins so far has been strong starts and blazing finishes, but the inability to force the pace during the middle overs is sticking out like a sore thumb. Let’s delve into the details. In the opening game against the USA in Mumbai, where they shockingly lost four wickets inside the Power Play, they opted for consolidation thereafter, managing just 40 runs in the overs between 7 and 14.</p> <p>They encountered a similar problem against minnows Namibia in New Delhi, scoring 58 runs and losing three wickets in the eight middle-phase overs. Things were better against Pakistan at the R Premadasa Stadium, where opener Ishan Kishan went berserk, the Men In Blue accruing 73 runs and losing just one wicket in the bargain. But even there, as soon as Kishan was dismissed, the run-rate took a nosedive. The pattern returned during the Netherlands in Ahmedabad, where they posted just 62 runs and lost two wickets. Their average run-rate in the middle-phase has been a modest 7.31. </p> <p>The reason why the Indian batters have not been able to bat at a higher gear, apart from being faced with the reasonably challenging pitches, is how well the opposition bowlers have upped their game. While the spinners have bowled considerably slower through the air, thereby making shot-making difficult, the seamers too employ a lot of slower deliveries and back-of-a-length balls. There’s hardly anything offered in the hitting zone, forcing the Indian batters to manufacture shots or take extra risks. </p> <p>So the likes of Tilak Varma and skipper Suryakumar Yadav are pushed to play out of their comfort zones. Varma has mostly adopted the anchor role just to hold one end up, while Suryakumar has tried to change the tide by shuffling around the crease or using his feet to spinners, but it’s been tough sailing even for him. So, inevitably, the duo have embraced caution with just a little bit of aggression, ensuring wickets are there for the big-hitting trio of Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube and Rinku Singh to do all the damage at the death. </p> <p>That ploy has worked with Pandya and Dube putting their hands up on different occasions, and even Suryakumar opening his shoulders once. In some ways, that was the need of the hour. But what if the finishers have a bad day in the office? It could dent India, considering there isn’t room for error in Super 8s.</p> <p>India are also not helped by the fact that they have an assortment of left-handed batters — nine in the squad of 15. Six of them are batters who generally start a game, giving the side an unidimensional look. Oppositions have come prepared, leaning more on finger spin to stifle them. </p> <p>“You think about IPL cricket and a lot of the bilateral series, the pace of the innings seems to just carry through from the Power Play. Whereas across all the games (in this World Cup), maybe particularly in Sri Lanka, but certainly in India as well, you seem to get out of the blocks pretty quickly and then batting becomes slightly more difficult in the middle phase. Teams are getting really clever now,” reckoned assistant coach Ryan Doeschate after India’s win over the Netherlands on Wednesday.</p> <p>“I think if we look at percentages tonight, the Dutch guys took pace off the ball a lot of the time. And obviously teams are bowling a lot of finger spin to us with so many left-handers in our line-up. That is a challenge. And I think it’s going to be a differentiator in the second phase of this competition.”</p><p>How India address this challenge could determine how deep they run into the tournament.</p>
<p>Ahmedabad: Defending champions India may have chugged along smoothly into the Super Eights of the ICC T20 World Cup with an unblemished record, but with bigger battles ahead, they will need to address their middle-overs’ woes their batters are enduring if they wish to avoid any slip-ups.</p><p>Having arrived at the marquee event with nearly all their batters in blazing form, they were supposed to set the stage on fire but but have been confounded by surprisingly challenging pitches and opposition spinners who have extracted maximum advantage with a fine cocktail of skill and smarts, they have struggled to exert their usual dominance in totality that they are accustomed to on flat tracks. </p>.ICC T20 World Cup 2026 | Hybrid Model a logistical nightmare .<p>The pattern in India’s four wins so far has been strong starts and blazing finishes, but the inability to force the pace during the middle overs is sticking out like a sore thumb. Let’s delve into the details. In the opening game against the USA in Mumbai, where they shockingly lost four wickets inside the Power Play, they opted for consolidation thereafter, managing just 40 runs in the overs between 7 and 14.</p> <p>They encountered a similar problem against minnows Namibia in New Delhi, scoring 58 runs and losing three wickets in the eight middle-phase overs. Things were better against Pakistan at the R Premadasa Stadium, where opener Ishan Kishan went berserk, the Men In Blue accruing 73 runs and losing just one wicket in the bargain. But even there, as soon as Kishan was dismissed, the run-rate took a nosedive. The pattern returned during the Netherlands in Ahmedabad, where they posted just 62 runs and lost two wickets. Their average run-rate in the middle-phase has been a modest 7.31. </p> <p>The reason why the Indian batters have not been able to bat at a higher gear, apart from being faced with the reasonably challenging pitches, is how well the opposition bowlers have upped their game. While the spinners have bowled considerably slower through the air, thereby making shot-making difficult, the seamers too employ a lot of slower deliveries and back-of-a-length balls. There’s hardly anything offered in the hitting zone, forcing the Indian batters to manufacture shots or take extra risks. </p> <p>So the likes of Tilak Varma and skipper Suryakumar Yadav are pushed to play out of their comfort zones. Varma has mostly adopted the anchor role just to hold one end up, while Suryakumar has tried to change the tide by shuffling around the crease or using his feet to spinners, but it’s been tough sailing even for him. So, inevitably, the duo have embraced caution with just a little bit of aggression, ensuring wickets are there for the big-hitting trio of Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube and Rinku Singh to do all the damage at the death. </p> <p>That ploy has worked with Pandya and Dube putting their hands up on different occasions, and even Suryakumar opening his shoulders once. In some ways, that was the need of the hour. But what if the finishers have a bad day in the office? It could dent India, considering there isn’t room for error in Super 8s.</p> <p>India are also not helped by the fact that they have an assortment of left-handed batters — nine in the squad of 15. Six of them are batters who generally start a game, giving the side an unidimensional look. Oppositions have come prepared, leaning more on finger spin to stifle them. </p> <p>“You think about IPL cricket and a lot of the bilateral series, the pace of the innings seems to just carry through from the Power Play. Whereas across all the games (in this World Cup), maybe particularly in Sri Lanka, but certainly in India as well, you seem to get out of the blocks pretty quickly and then batting becomes slightly more difficult in the middle phase. Teams are getting really clever now,” reckoned assistant coach Ryan Doeschate after India’s win over the Netherlands on Wednesday.</p> <p>“I think if we look at percentages tonight, the Dutch guys took pace off the ball a lot of the time. And obviously teams are bowling a lot of finger spin to us with so many left-handers in our line-up. That is a challenge. And I think it’s going to be a differentiator in the second phase of this competition.”</p><p>How India address this challenge could determine how deep they run into the tournament.</p>