Well begun is half-done is an old saying and India’s win over a formidable Australian team will certainly give the players the belief that they have begun the campaign to win the World Cup on a positive note. What will enthuse them even more is the way they recovered from a fire situation while chasing a smallish total and then went on to win the match comfortably.
The contribution of the bowlers was immense as they restricted the Aussies to under 200 on a pitch with no devils. Even Steve Smith who got out bowled to a Jadeja ball that turned will agree after seeing the replays that his front foot was nowhere near the ball to be able to combat the turn. Jadeja took three but the others weren’t far behind as Bumrah produced snorter after snorter to put the brakes at the start and getting the in-form Marsh out to a splendid catch in the slips by Kohli. Kuldeep, Ashwin and Pandya all bowled well and made the job of the batters a lot easier.
Kohli and Rahul brought all their experience into play to take India home after the early stutter.
Now against Afghanistan at the Kotla which has just seen a run fest, India will look for its top order, who failed against the Aussies, to get runs under their belt. Being a smaller ground India may perhaps leave out a spinner, though why change a bowling combination that has bowled so well in the first game may well be at the back of the captain and coach’s mind.
The Afghanistan team has batters who love to go on the attack straightaway and bowlers, who on a pitch with some turn can be a problem. That said they are a far more dangerous side in the T20 format than in the ODI format.
The Afghanistan bowling attack depends to a great extent on Rashid Khan but amazingly, he also has the worst figures in World Cup history. He is an impact player with both ball and bat and as a fielder can lift his team up considerably.
In the batting much will depend on Gurbaz who scored a brilliant hundred against Pakistan recently. They are a mercurial side alright but whether they can do that over 50 overs remains to be seen.
India have started positively and will want to carry that on for the game after this is the one where all eyes will be glued.
