It has a lot to do with captain Rohit Sharma and his ways – frank, friendly, chatting with the media and telling his boys, “Go talk to the media yaar, dil khol ke baat karon, how long will the captain speak for you?”
T20 WORLD CUP: SCHEDULE | POINTS TABLE
It’s this infectious energy and happy vibes of Rohit that have put an already good team completely at ease as they get ready to play Afghanistan on Thursday.
India landed here a couple of days earlier and trained at the Kensington Oval nets. They struggled with the bat on a few occasions after a spot of rain made the pitch stickier, but were always quietly confident that “if New York conditions could be negotiated, everything else can be”.
After Afghanistan on Thursday, India play Bangladesh on Saturday. If current form and pedigree are any indication, India should wrap up their semifinal entry even before they play Australia in St. Lucia on Tuesday.
The team knows it too but that doesn’t make them complacent. Despite the complete domination India have enjoyed over Afghanistan over the last few years in every format, they are not taking Rashid Khan‘s boys lightly at all. Rashid himself is an IPL legend while the likes of chinaman Noor Ahmed, opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz or medium-pacer Naveenul-Haq are moderately familiar faces on the Indian circuit.
But more than the quality of the players, it’s the warrior-spirit of the Afghans that Team India needs to be careful about. T20, at the end of the day, is a flippant format and a small phase of 12 balls here and there can turn the game upside down.
Add to that the decent run that Afghanistan enjoyed in the group stages, till they were handed a reality check by an impressive West Indies in St. Lucia. But India will keep in mind that Afghanistan have beaten a team of great pedigree in New Zealand. Interestingly, the conditions here at Kensington Oval might just be to the liking of both teams.
Discussions with locals suggest that 180 could be a par score, while spinners should get some assistance. The Afghans have their own battery of tweakers led by Rashid, and it will be interesting to see if India manage to find a place for chinaman Kuldeep Yadav ahead of paceman Mohammed Siraj, who has looked the least dangerous till now.
But Rohit would also be mindful of the fact that the Afghans aren’t the greatest players of pace bowling either. If the ball is aimed at their ribcage at good speed, the likes of Gurbaaz and others do tend to flounder a bit. And the pace-attack that India has is being touted as the best in this World Cup. If Jasprit Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh find their rhythm straight up, the boys in blue should be setting the pace right from the word go.
As for the batting, there’s enough depth and experience in the Indian ranks to deal with any kind of Afghan threat. And with Virat Kohli due for a big one and Rohit completely at ease with his own game, there is a case for the 2007 champions to race off the blocks, as West Indies did in St Lucia the other day.
If India can set the early pace, Thursday should be a comfortable day in office for the team and a stress-free evening for the fans back home.
