ODI World Cup 2023: India has dominated the league phase. A look back

ODI World Cup 2023: The current nine-match winning streak is a first for India in a 50-over World Cup. India will square off against old foes New Zealand in the semifinal in Mumbai next. (Photo via X)

India, mighty India, imposing India, intimidating India, unstoppable India, have mounted the perfect World Cup campaign thus far. Played nine, won nine. A new Indian record for the most consecutive matches won in a single World Cup. Semifinalist opponents New Zealand, beaten by four wickets. Fellow semifinalists South Africa and Australia hammered by six wickets and 243 runs, respectively. The first five games won while chasing, the last four while setting a target. Three totals in excess of 300 batting first, the last of them a humongous 410 for four against Netherlands on Sunday. At once the irresistible force and the immovable object, a gathering mass of power and grace and grandeur.

India have bowled out seven of their nine opponents, only Afghanistan and Bangladesh lasting the 50 overs on absolute shirtfronts. Their five specialist bowlers – Jasprit Bumrah (17), Mohammed Shami (16), Mohammed Siraj (12), Kuldeep Yadav (14) and Ravindra Jadeja (16) - have taken 75 wickets between them and three of their top four have more than 400 runs for the competition. Skipper Rohit Sharma has led from the front with 503 runs at an average of 55.88 and a strike rate of 121.49, his predecessor Virat Kohli leads all comers with 594 runs, inclusive of two hundreds. If this isn’t the definition of a well-oiled machine, few things are.

Also read: Rohit Sharma sets new records: Most ODI sixes in a year and by a captain in an ODI World Cup

At various stages of this remarkable run, India have been challenged, not least in their opener against Australia. A compact bowling display meant they had only 200 to chase, but that tally appeared mountainesque when the first three wickets tumbled with just two runs on the board. India could have been 20 for four had Mitchell Marsh held on to a skier from Kohli. He didn’t, Kohli and KL Rahul put on 165 for the fourth wicket, and that really was that.

If that was trial No. 1, a bigger one awaited them in Pune, against Bangladesh. In so many ways, Hardik Pandya was the fulcrum around which the team would revolve. He was Rohit’s deputy. He was the fabulous No. 6, capable of playing in the gear the situation required of him. He was the third or fourth seamer, depending on the conditions, but not just someone who made up the numbers. He was quick, he was incisive, he had learnt the art of setting batsmen up. Of all the members in the Indian squad, he was the least dispensable.

And yet, Pandya’s World Cup lasted only three matches and three deliveries. In his first over against Bangladesh, he twisted his left ankle on his follow-through. It seemed a serious injury, then we were told it wasn’t as bad as suspected. We were informed that his comeback was a matter of time, until the cookie crumbled and it was officially announced that his World Cup was over. India didn’t just lose their talisman, they lost more than two players rolled in one. So they were forced to dip into their strategic hat and work the changes, needing two specialists to replace a two-in-one virtuoso. That hasn’t worked out too badly, right?

Pandya’s presence lent solid insurance against a bad day in the office for one of the other five bowlers. It facilitated playing a third spinner, like R Ashwin did in Chennai, or an additional seamer, like Shardul Thakur, who can also bat a bit, who appeared in games two, three and four. But when India lost Pandya, they needed two specialists to come in as replacements – Suryakumar Yadav at No. 6, Mohammed Shami as the aggressive, wicket-taking pace option. Shami should have been in the XI from the off, with due respect to Thakur and his batting credentials. It needed Pandya’s misfortune for India to wake up to that reality, with stunning results.

Pandya’s value became all too apparent in his first game away, in Dharamsala against New Zealand. India had no semblance of a sixth bowling option and left-arm wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav was being taken to the cleaners by Daryl Mitchell, who targeted the short straight boundaries and cleared them with ridiculous ease. The Kiwis were on course for a score in excess of 310 when Kuldeep bounced back with a competent second spell. But it was in that game too that Shami’s value surfaced.

In a telling final burst, he sent New Zealand packing for 273, well below what they had threatened. His five for 54 was the turning point of the game, though India still needed a strong sixth-wicket stand between Kohli and miracle man Jadeja to get over the line. Crisis No. 2 averted, this time against the nation across the Tasman Sea from Australia.

Five games won chasing, when will India bat first? How would they respond? The answers came in match six, against England in Lucknow.

On a dodgy, two-paced, bowling-friendly surface, India lost their way, only the icy-calm of their fearless skipper bailing them out. Despite Rohit’s 87, India settled for 229 for nine. Hegre we go, we tut-tutted. The perils of batting first.

The quicks came together to precipitate a collapse, Shami taking four to send the defending champions packing for 129. It was the start of an electric run, with Bumrah, Siraj and Shami hitting peak meanness. Sri Lanka were blown away for 55, South Africa decimated for 83. Every ball was an incident, every over lasted an eternity as batsmen, experienced and rookie, right- and left-handed, were lured to their doom by craft and deception and quality and venom. It was exhilarating if you were an Indian, embarrassing and humbling if you were from the opposition. When was the last time one said that of the Indian fast-bowling pack?

Beyond feel-good and confidence and momentum, this record nine-match winning streak, these hundreds of runs and wickets by the bushel will count for nothing when India square off against old foes New Zealand in the semifinal in Mumbai on Wednesday. But the respect, maybe even awe, in opposition ranks when they speak of India is unmistakable. There is a hint of fear, a touch of wonderment. India will have to be defeated, they won’t lose, if that makes sense. India know that, so do New Zealand, who conquered them at the same stage four years back. Unfinished business to attend to, then, would one say?