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Like the trains on the local lines behind the Wankhede, like the crows congregating on the university ground beside it, like the particulate haze in the Mumbai air, India’s seventh win on the bounce felt like the order of things. Except that it is entirely inappropriate to invoke the humdrum for India’s inevitability. The vibe of this side is carnivalesque as it is capital-P Professional.
There may have been Indian teams of the past where the bowling has pulled its weight better than the batting, but rarely ever a side where bowling was the thing, where you wanted to flock to the grounds to watch it, where you had to stall loo breaks and kitchen trips because any ball could be the best you have ever seen or else building up towards it. These guys are like trapeze artists pulling off the most audacious moves with a knowing smile, while you gasp, roar, laugh, cover your mouths in disbelief.
In Lucknow, Kuldeep Yadav broke one to Jos Buttler so hard you could hear the snap in its spinal column. Jasprit Bumrah finished off that innings with a yorker that could burrow through a wall. Thursday night in Mumbai, Bumrah began with an unplayable outswinger that accounted for Sri Lanka’s No 1, Mohammad Siraj with an unplayable outswinger that removed No 2, only to redefine unplayable with the one that knocked back No 3’s off stump. Afterwards Mohammad Shami detonated No. 6’s leg stump with an inswinger that tailed in like a comet.
In terms of draw, the closest Indian bowling parallel I can think of is the 1970s when trios from the great quartet were in operation, with their fabulous close-in catchers. But that attack, even accounting for the variety within, was all spin. Here the spinners sometimes barely get a chance to show their stuff. And the spinners are excellent.
Each injury has only made this attack stronger. Axar Patel’s made room for R Aswhin, who started superbly in Chennai and has since been on the bench. Hardik Pandya’s paved the way for Shami, who has scythed his way to 14 wickets in three games at an average and strike rate of, erm, 6.7 and 9.4. Bumrah, with 15 wickets in seven matches at 14.6 and 23.5, somehow comes off as a laggard.
Towards the end of the night, the Wankhede reverberated with chants of “Kohli ko bowling do.” Standing in the slips, Kohli played along by warming up. Given how things were going, if he had turned his arm over he might have come up with a hat-trick.
Such has been the relentlessness of this attack that it has people wondering whether it has indeed been that good or the opposition has been a bit crap. As Sri Lanka tumbled from one fall to another, I had messages pop simultaneously on my phone. “This is ridiculous,” read the first. “This is ghastly to watch!” read the other. True, true. Sri Lankan agency in their capitulation cannot be denied. They were actively poor in Mumbai, as England were in Lucknow. Yet India’s bowling made them look abject, hopeless.
India still have four matches to go in the competition – if they get past the semi-final, that is. Their next game is against South Africa, who aim for 400 batting first, hitting sixes as others run singles. To stay unbeaten through a World Cup is very hard. Clive Lloyd’s West Indians did it in 1975 and again in 1979, but those were short competitions: five games to the title. Australia did it, incredibly, twice in tournaments as long as the current one: 11 games in 2003 and 2007.
This Indian team has bowling that can rub shoulders with and perhaps even inch above some of those champion attacks. They have, like those teams did, fielding that elevates the bowling. India were already in third place in the broadcaster’s Catch Efficiency index before they took the field against Sri Lanka; the splendid catching in the evening would have only boosted their standing.
The energy the team radiates in the field is matched by the rather elaborate medal ceremonies the fielding coach T Dilip has orchestrated after each game. In Pune the winner’s photograph showed up on the giant scoreboard; in Dharamsala the name was relayed via a note delivered by the Spidercam; at Lucknow it took the form of a light show. In Mumbai, Sachin Tendulkar recorded a video for the presentation (Shreyas Iyer won).
In his message, Tendulkar rewound back to the 2003 World Cup in South Africa. Before stepping out on to the field before each game, he said, every player would sign their names on a chart that had the words: “I can. We can.” The fielding medal, Tendulkar went on, as the players watched with misty-eyed smiles, “is to me a reflection of your commitment, doing something for your colleague, for your team and for the country. I simply loved the brand of cricket that you’ve played so far. It’s been a joy to watch.”
Not for the first time at the Wankhede, Sachin had finished with a speech that hit home.
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