ICC World Cup 2023: Can India pull off another victory on home turf, come October?

A late addition for the ODI series against Sri Lanka, Jasprit Bumrah was ruled out before the first game, with the BCCI saying he needed ‘more time to build bowling resilience’. (File photo)

It hardly warrants repeated reminders that India’s cricketers haven’t been able to add to their collection of global trophies since the Champions Trophy in England in 2013. By the time the 50-over World Cup comes around in October-November, the drought would have spilled over to an 11th year. Seldom do India go into a major tournament without the pressure of expectations, but that will be magnified in nine months’ time, considering that the World Cup returns to Indian soil for the first time since 2011.

A dozen years back, India became the first team to win the World Cup in their own backyard. Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s winning six in the final off Nuwan Kulasekara has gone into folklore; Rohit Sharma will be expected to deliver an encore, no matter how daunting that task might be. In a tournament as high-pressure and lengthy as the World Cup, a zillion things need to go right for a team to emerge triumphant, just one little slip-up is enough for the Promised Land to remain elusive.

India began their first early preparations for the big bash in Guwahati on Tuesday, in the first of three One-Day Internationals against Dasun Shanaka’s Sri Lanka, and wrapped up the series at the first time of asking at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Thursday, grabbing an unbeatable 2-0 lead.

At a generous estimate, they have no more than 20 ODIs – as of now – to get their act right. They will no doubt draw lessons from their build-up to the T20 World Cup in Australia late last year, which they approached as one of the favourites but again flattered to deceive, crashing out after a humbling ten-wicket hammering by England in the semis.

In the 12 months between the T20 World Cups in the UAE and Australia, India tried out nearly 30 players under the new management team of Rohit and head coach Rahul Dravid. If the idea was to unearth multiple options and back-ups for each position, they weren’t to be disappointed because several players put their hand up and asked to be counted. But because the net was cast far and wide and because so many players commanded attention with their performances in bilateral series, there was a sense that not too many had had the opportunity to grow into their roles.

It didn’t help that, having populated the top-three with young and fearless attackers emboldened by their successes in the IPL, India plumped for the experienced trio of Rohit, K.L. Rahul and Virat Kohli for the World Cup. Captain Rohit and his deputy Rahul were particular letdowns, and even though Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav gave it their all, India’s opening woes came back to haunt them when it mattered the most.

For all the brave faces they put up in the immediacy of their World Cup elimination, it is obvious that a lot of thought has since gone into what processes India must put in place as they gear up for the 50-over showpiece event. The decision to restrict the core group to 20 is prudent and logical; that means while there is a wonderful chance for this bunch to familiarise themselves with the demands of their positions, there are also adequate back-ups without the decision-makers being saddled with a problem of plenty, in reality not such a ‘happy headache’ as is touted.

In the past, being the host of a tournament as high-profile as the World Cup came with attendant advantages, such as familiarity with conditions and the sustained experience of playing in front of vast, energetic crowds that can galvanise the home side as much as it can intimidate the opponent. That advantage no longer exists; teams are happy, indeed willing and eager, to tour India, and the IPL has taken away the exoticism that was once associated with playing in India. With all major teams as comfortable in Indian conditions as the home team itself, there is a greater level-playing field.

Therefore, it is even more imperative that India get their plans in order, and quickly. The insistence on the return of fitness parameter measurements – the Yo-Yo and the Dexa tests – is a fallout of the Australian misadventure when India’s stars were found out by the vast outfields. A fit body in a fit mind aids in smarter, fresher decision-making, one of the factors that drives a winning outfit.

India have plentiful resources to summon, and yet several questions to answer.

Including, who are the potential partners at the top of the batting order for Rohit. Shikhar Dhawan’s exclusion for the Sri Lanka series might suggest he isn’t quite in the mix, especially with Shubman Gill translating his ability into impactful runs and Ishan Kishan providing a left-handed option to go with his wicketkeeping skills. Rahul, tentative in T20Is and unimpressive in Tests, seems to have found his calling as a middle-order batsman and a 'keeper in 50-over cricket – much like his namesake and the current head coach in the early 2000s – though he will feel he must do more to justify the repeated votes of confidence from successive think-tanks.

Including, whether KulCha (as Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal were known during their pomp for nearly two years between 2017 and 2019) will be reunited as a wrist-spinning attacking force in the middle overs. Whether there is a place for both Ravindra Jadeja, still to recover fully from knee surgery, and Axar Patel, left-arm spinning all-rounders who can give the ball a mighty thwack. Whether Umran Malik’s searing pace is a luxury India will entertain. And most importantly, whether Jasprit Bumrah will be available to spearhead the bowling.

Bumrah was badly missed in Australia, out as he was with a back injury. A late addition for this ODI series, he was ruled out before the first game, with the BCCI saying he needed ‘more time to build bowling resilience’. Bumrah is too precious a commodity to be rushed back into play; his presence lends a cutting, incisive edge that every captain would love to fall back on, and he has to be handled with care over the next several months.

Neither this three-match series against a competitive but unpredictable Sri Lankan outfit, nor the one against New Zealand starting on January 18, will separate the men from the boys, but these six games will provide greater clarity into which way the brains trust is leaning, what brand of cricket the team wants to espouse and how far they are willing to walk towards that end. An exciting few days ahead, then.