All-guns blazing contest in offing as India meet Oz
M S Dhoni may not be able to sport the Indian Army insignia on the gloves, thanks to an adamant ICC rulebook, but battle cry it is going to be once the Men in Blue get down to tackling the mighty Australians at the Oval on Sunday.
As the clouds raced over the venue on match eve, some dark and others darker, only to bring in more of similar assembly, you knew that India's next match of the World Cupwould be quite a laden one.
Weather, or not, any India-Australia clash is ridden mostly with nerves, pressure and anticipation on the Indian end, what with the Aussies eager to bounce you away with fast and short ones, more so this time when they are looking to consolidate two wins with their third outing against a team being touted as potential World Cup champions.
In that sense, India skipper Virat Kohli will be launchingthe most difficult campaign of this edition when he meets old foe and defending champions Australia, this time on the backfoot of a series lost to them at home. Maturity, professionalism, solid partnerships, well-paced innings and firing quicks in Jasprit Bumrahand perhaps Mohammed Shami, will be the prescription to deal with the yellow fever. That and spinner Yuzvendra Chahal's repeat performance though precedent knows the Aussies have a way to tackle him.
All this worked against the South Africans.But the Australians are another breed in another mood. For one, they are far from struggling, under pressure or depleted by injury or any other force.In fact, they are more upbeat than ever before, lording over their two wins in this World Cup, one of them against West Indies, which they wrested late— and the fact that their master marauders David Warner and Steve Smith are back in the squad, firing away with class and consistency.
Add to this the pace the expected overcast conditions and the Indian batters like Rohit Sharma who showed uncanny restraint in getting to his hundred against South Africa the other day, will have their job cut out. A back-up from the other end will be grossly needed and that's where Shikhar Dhawan's continued hopelessness with the bat will hit the most.
If you saw Glenn Maxwell's back running high loop catch against the West Indies you would know that the livewire element is there in all departments. Add to that the recent series win against India in India and Finch looks sorted and happy to be so.
Not that Kohli is unaware of all these factors but as Finch correctly summed, "in the end it will all void down to execution."
Execution and weather, more so the latter.With mostly a cloudy day predicted with moderate winds, the Aussies will be smiling from ear to ear, what with the likes of Starc and Marsh already measuring their run up hungrily.
"We will put the pressure on with bouncers. I think winning close ones, especially early in the tournament, is important to keep the momentum going. But as you know, the weather could play a part at some point in this tournament, so to be able to get two points where we didn't play our best cricket was really crucial," Finch said.
His recipe for the Oval broth? Early wickets, pace battering, careful execution and the belief drawn from the series win in India. "Beating them in India gave us self-belief," he said, even as later in the session Indian deputy skipper Rohit Sharma rated this tenet as one of the top ploys to win the match.
"Self-belief has played a crucial part in these years.If I wouldn't have believed that I can open and do well, I wouldn't have been doing it so successfully. Self-belief plays a huge part in success," Sharma added.
As for precedence, "Australia has beaten India in India and India has beaten Australia in Australia. What matters is how you turn up on that particular day," Sharma insisted, brushing aside the Indian non-performance at this otherwise high-scoring venue. Most recently, India lost the warm-up to New Zealand by six wickets here.
Like him his skipper, too, would be looking at future, not history to script another unbelievable and studied win over his opponent, thereby brushing the clouds away both from the minds of his boys and the skies above.