I don’t think India have been ‘lucky’ to enter the World T20 semi-finals, as some are suggesting.
They played really well against Australia and deserved to win. The Indians fought back from difficult situations and thus find themselves in the knockout match.
The bowlers pulled things back after the Aussies had raced to 53 for no loss after four overs in Mohali.
But Ashish Nehra and Jasprit Bumrah kept things under control and were well supported by Ravindra Jadeja and even Yuvraj Singh.
All we needed was one batsman to stand tall and take the fight to the opposition, which Virat Kohli did brilliantly. Virat is the key player for India. He is the one player who has been scoring the big runs at crucial moments for India for quite some time and it looks like he will become one of the greatest batsmen soon.
But we need to also accept the fact that our opening pair is not giving the start that we want. Even Suresh Raina is not coming up with the runs and that is not an ideal situation. It’s the semi-final and the entire batting line-up needs to stand up and pull its weight.
You cannot rely on Kohli to deliver all the time. He might get out early and that shouldn’t automatically mean we lose the match.
We will get to see if Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan and Raina can bat responsibly and put the opposition under pressure.
Wankhede is by far the best batting surface of this World T20. Be it the England-West Indies match or later the South Africa-England game, batsmen have had a great time in Mumbai. It is the home ground of Rohit, Shikhar likes such a wicket where the ball comes on to the bat… so this is a golden opportunity for the out-of-form Indian batsmen to fill their boots and take the team one step closer to winning their second World T20 title.
Admittedly, the equation has changed for the Indian team after the injury to Yuvraj Singh.
Knowing Yuvi, I know he would have loved to play in this match. If it was even remotely possible, he would have made himself available. It is a big loss for India. He is a player who can win matches on his own with the bat and ball. Not only that, Yuvraj brings in a lot of big-game experience and that is something India will miss.
Our mentor and coach with the man of the moment, @imVkohli, after India's terrific win against Australia. pic.twitter.com/0lQP96tqeD
— Kings XI Punjab (@lionsdenkxip) March 30, 2016
But the team needs to concentrate on the task at hand and make the necessary adjustments.
Knowing MS Dhoni, he will go with another batsman – either Ajinkya Rahane or Manish Pandey – as the top order is not in the best of form.
As far as the clash is concerned, I don’t think recent results matter in a knockout match. That India beat Australia or the West Indies slipped up against Afghanistan doesn’t count for much in my book.
Whichever team gets off the blocks the quickest will hold the upper hand. As I had said about the India-Pakistan match, recent record don’t matter in crunch games. India had lost while Pakistan had won coming into that encounter. But it was India who eased to a win. So I will not look too much into previous results.
The biggest challenges facing the Indian team at the moment are Chris Gayle and their own batting line-up.
But we must also remember that the entire West Indies team is a talented bunch with some very experienced T20 players.
If you look at their line-up, they having a lot of firepower all the way to number nine.
Obviously, Gayle at the top of the order is a huge threat for any team in a T20 match. But they have other players too who can change the course of a match. Darren Sammy comes in at number eight while the hard-hitting Carlos Brathwaite at number nine, which is incredible.
Not only that, the Caribbean players have a lot of IPL experience under their belt. Dwayne Bravo has tasted a lot of success with the bat and ball playing for Chennai Super Kings and knows the conditions and Indian players well. Then there is Andre Russell who offers a lot on the field and Marlon Samuels provides solidity to the team.
However, I would like to point out that the West Indies’ bowling is much weaker compared to its batting. We have seen that so far in the tournament, they have bowled first and chased targets and that is something the Indians should look at.
Unless the wicket offers a lot of turn, I would like to field first. The West Indies are such a strong batting line-up, I think it will be best to field first and try to restrict them to around 180 and then go after the target. Form and record aside, at the end of the day it’s all about mastering the conditions on the day and soaking in all the pressure.
