Wounded India run into ambitious underdogs

Their campaign blown off track at the take-off itself, a smarting and ‘fatigued’ Indian team will be hoping to avoid a catastrophic crash when they take on a highly motivated Afghanistan in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.

Just about everything that has to go wrong for India, considered the pre-tournament favourites but staring at an embarrassing group stage exit following two successive pastings, has gone wrong for them. Afghanistan, despite the strife at home and the resultant stress, have yet again overcome adversity in exemplary fashion to sit in second place in Group 2. The war-torn nation, who learnt the sport in refugee camps, have now emerged as the sentimental favourites to secure an elusive semifinal berth.

While the Indian team management has blamed the toss, pitch and ‘bubble fatigue’ as the reasons for the two failures — partly true — they can’t hide the fact that they have batted and bowled poorly. The batsmen’s collective form has suddenly nosedived with none from the top-order able to force the pace nor the middle and lower order able to provide the explosiveness that is essential in turning 130s into 170s. Sample this, the Indian team has just managed to hit six sixes and 19 boundaries in 40 overs, amongst the worst in the tournament.

Bowling wise, it’s even worse — just two wickets in two matches. India have opened with their chief wrecker Jasprit Bumrah and the ‘mystery spinner’ Varun Chakravarthy but the duo, so successful in the IPL, have been unable to provide those early breakthroughs. Yes, Pakistan and New Zealand played them smartly knowing they weren’t chasing huge totals, but the batsmen have been able to easily uncover the mystery of Chakravarthy which has hurt India badly. The second and third change bowlers, with morale already down, have then gone with the motions, leaving Virat Kohli a worried man.

In contrast, Afghanistan’s statistics are remarkable. In three games, they have smacked 22 sixes and a whopping 44 boundaries with their batsmen constantly showing the adventure and dexterity to silence the opposition bowlers.

Their bowlers have been brilliant too, scalping 24 wickets, and they almost stunned Pakistan before the bruising Asif Ali destroyed their plans with some sensational hitting in the penultimate over. If not Asif’s four sixes off Karim Janat, Afghanistan could have been leading the table. Pace duo of Naveen Ul Haq and Gulbadin Naib have been right on the money, but the real test for India will be against spinners Rashid Khan and Mujeeb Ur Rahman, who have spun a web around batsmen.

Indian batsmen have struggled against spin the two matches they have played and Rashid and Mujeeb could make their life difficult.

India, desperately searching for answers, will simply not have it easy and there’s the eerie 2007 ODI World Cup feeling to this campaign where they exited in the group stage and all hell broke loose later. Here, there’s going to be change in regime post the event but Indians wouldn’t want to bow out on sad note.

Afghanistan, however, having narrowly missed out on a big scalp, know stunning India would not only strengthen their semifinal chances but it could be a big statement they’ve been eager to make on the world stage. Can the underdogs cause a seismic shock or will the battered heavyweights of world cricket rise up after two body blows? Wednesday night will provide an answer.