Arshdeep Singh bowled a fantastic Super Over to set up India’s win ©Getty
India will go into Sunday’s Asia Cup final against Pakistan undefeated, but if anything, the campaign so far has been far from perfect. It’s underlined how far they are from a finished product.
Against Sri Lanka, in what was technically a dead rubber, it took a special Super Over from Arshdeep Singh to seal the game. That India pulled through was no surprise; they now have six wins out of six in tied matches, including a bowl-out, and know how to handle pressure. What was surprising was how, for most of the second innings, they didn’t look like defending the total.
Morne Morkel, India’s bowling coach, summed it up bluntly. “We, by no means, are the finished article, and we know that,” he said. “But luckily we’ve won, and we’ve won sometimes in ugly fashion, but we’ll take that. And as a group, always take the learning and look to improve and take it on Sunday.
“I don’t think in this tournament so far we’ve played the complete game. After every game there has to be discussions of areas we would like to improve and get better on.”
That was the theme of the night. India won again, but like against Oman, Pakistan and Bangladesh, they went through phases where they weren’t in control. For a team with a home World Cup on the horizon, the concern is less about scraping through in Dubai and more about whether they can put together a complete game when it matters most.
The batting is one part of that. India know they have left runs on the field, admittedly in conditions that have been tricky for middle-order batters starting against the old ball. Suryakumar Yadav’s form is another worry. The captain has had a torrid year in T20Is (10 innings, 99 runs, an average of 12.37, a strike rate of 110) despite a 717-run IPL season. And that despite his place at No.3 being more or less constant in a middle order that’s otherwise seen a lot of churn.
“If we start with the batting, can we in tough conditions rotate strike a little bit better, get our two runs, running between the wickets, our twos, can we get that up?” Morkel said. “Can we protect partnerships a little bit, because new batter walking in here is quite tough for those guys to start, but still have that aggressive mindset.”
With the ball, India have struggled, especially with Bumrah finishing his three overs upfront. It has left them light at the death, where runs have flowed.
“From a bowling point of view, let’s talk specifically about the first six or the first 10 overs, how we can improve with our lengths, with our accuracy, with our thinking, with ball in hand,” Morkel said. “In that middle phase, just sort of our over-sequence in terms of maybe bringing in an odd yorker.
“I think the trend has been, because the wicket is slightly on the slower side, to go off-pace and batters are lining that up. So it’s just that general thinking under pressure a little bit that we need to get sharper at.”
The other glaring problem has been in the field. India have dropped 12 catches in this tournament, the most by any team. Eight of those have come in the last two games alone, four of them off Varun Chakaravarthy’s bowling.
“And then in the field, obviously catching, and we’ve worked hard on our catching under the lights, so maybe it’s just a little bit of a confidence thing,” Morkel admitted. “Just try and squeeze the guys in the field. So all departments, there is work that needs to be done.”
There were positives too. Samson finally found fluent runs, Tilak Varma continued to finish innings and Abhishek Sharma added another half-century. The legspinners were exceptional: 62 runs in eight overs on the flattest pitch of the tournament was the difference between a defeat and taking the game to a Super Over.
And when it came down to pressure, Arshdeep handled it.
“I always challenge the players to want the ball in tough situations, and Arshdeep taking the ball here tonight and bowling that Super Over and executing well, that’s great. The more we can find ourselves in sticky situations and execute well and take the learning from that, that’s how this group is going to grow.”
India are still unbeaten. They’ve found ways out of trouble. But they haven’t played a perfect game yet. On Sunday against Pakistan, they will hope those hardened edges and tested nerves matter more than the catches they’ve dropped along the way.
© Cricbuzz
