India will be meeting the Raymond men of cricket this Sunday — the complete, replete and rearing to go cricketers. And they would be meeting this superbly complete cricketing unit at a stadium where boundaries are big and the ground beneath the feet full of rich history, unfortunately not in India’s favour.
Victory against a team being pegged the “most capable” to win this Cup would, as Virat Kohli said on match eve, “be a huge booster for self-belief” and an instrument to keep the winning momentum going deep into the knockouts.Over and above that, it will also, in quite some measure, take care of India’s quarter-final permutations.
With close to 80 per cent Indians chanting for Team India in the 91,000 capacity stands, and players like Kohli deriving their strength from “full stadiums which excite me as I can’t explain”, it will be a scintillating contest, howsoever edge to South Africa it may be perceived to be.
And there are reasons for that we all know about. For one, the South Africans hold a 3-0 record against the Indians at the worlds. If India have a fabled line-up of batters being led by Virat Kohli in top form who has developed the ability to match his cricket with the situation at hand, South Africa have bowlers who instil fear even among established players.
The searing pace of Dale Steyn, the precision yorkers of Morne Morkel and the controled swing of Vernon Philander would be quite a handful for the Indians — unless of course, they punctuate the duel with sustained mind games and the ability to navigate traps consistently.
Kohli’s advice is to “place the ball, find the gaps and not just try to power it to the ropes,” considering the bigness of the ground. And he believes, winning at the MCG is not at all about triggering a momentum in the slog overs but keeping it at a crescendo all through, a plan that South Africa’s team advisers Mike Hussey and Gary Kirsten must have certainly strategised to foil.
Unlike against Pakistan, a match in which handling the pressure well was enough to mould the game in either team’s favour, at the MCG this Sunday, there would be much more required of India — and that includes, in huge measure, its bowlers attacking as well as keeping a tight cordon against Protean hitters. Seeing Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers, David Miller and Quinton de Kock bat in a line at nets can be quite an unsettling experience for rivals — experience in textbook correctness, sheer power, athleticism and overall cricketing excellence.
Besides, AB is fresh from his 31-ball century in the preceding series, Miller has just shown how to rebuild and annex a virtually lost match and Amla has, for most part of his career, been a picture of calm and consistent aggression. With Bhuvneshwar Kumar likely to hold his ankle on the bench this Sunday too, it would be in the hands of Umesh Yadav, Mohit Sharma, Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja to contain the SA juggernaut which is rearing to roll.
Contrary to all talk of the MCG having a pace and bounce juice, AB says it’s always been slow and that the match he played against Australia here was on the slowest pitch ever. Considering this, he had no hesitation in announcing that, but for a freakish stroke of destiny, there should be no reason why his spin weapon Imran Tahir won’t join the pace battery to tackle India this Sunday.
His counterpart Ashwin who, Anil Kumble says, is a picture of him, has been with the maidens and in attractive attacking gear. He changed the game with his dot overs against Pakistan in Adelaide and Kumble says, he could be easily developed as India’s full blown felling machine.
“Ashwin’s a very skillful bowler, at his best when he wants to take wickets. It was a mental battle on the field (against Pakistan), and he was on the top most of the time when he bowled. He got only one wicket but the way he bowled was outstanding, especially when you’ve five fielders in the ring. He’ll be key for us (against SA) if he continues in the same mind-set, which is to take wickets and be on top of the batter,” Kohli said at the MCG on match eve.
Both Ashwin and Jadeja have been carrying ice-packs on their elbow and shoulder respectively at the nets but come Sunday all the inflammation would surely be thrown into the SA camp and the fire oven pizzazz of India’s spin attack would be at full play — aiding and defending the scores of Kohli, Sharma, Shikhar and Raina — that is, if they keep peace of mind and yet jog the grey cells of the game enough to, well, not choke on the chokers — like they did in the slog overs against Pakistan.
WATCH OUT FOR
Dale Steyn: He is the talk of the town, despite his sinusitis. But, it will be worth India’s while to have a plan to sort out the other one too – swing master Vernon Philander who has been at work at the nets under special guidance of the coaching staff. This may be his first World Cup but in him, SA have a hungry armster who has in him shades of a Glenn McGrath and a Shaun Pollock, both in one go.
David Miller: Quite the muscleman with the bat, this young broad-shouldered youngster is fast ensnaring legendary reputation. Most recently, he undid Zimbabwe with a good looking 137 when SA were down in the dumps and he has been under special supervision of former India coach Gary Kirsten at the nets with the latter giving him long period of throw-downs. As said, he has the shoulder to catch the rope even if it is MCG and he knows the Indian arm is somewhat of an easy pick.
Ravichandran Ashwin: Spinners don’t get much of the middle in away grounds but Ashwin has emerged as the main attacker in India’s bowling plans. He excelled at the Adelaide Oval in the match against Pakistan and is the pick of bowlers not just by Anil Kumble and Virat Kohli but also AB de Villiers. His ability to rustle up surprising aggression against pinch hitters and his tenacity to be on the top of the batters at any given point of the match will come in handy for India.
Virat Kohli: He has emerged as the score builder of Indian game plan. You add to that his new-found ability to change his game as per the requirement of the situation and there’s an added weapon for the SA to deal with. A picture of restraint and build-up during his scintillating century in Adelaide in the previous match would surely be under SA scanner.
WEATHER
A 295kmph cyclone may have hit the northeast coast of Australia but Melbourne was bright and sunny all through and is expected to be the same on Sunday too, with only a 30 per cent chance of a slight shower in the afternoon and a possible thunderstorm. At an expected 37 degrees Celsius with a partly cloudy sky, it will be a hot afternoon outing in more ways than one for India-South Africa.
PITCH
AB de Villiers says it is slow, Kohli says there is bounce. The portable pitch is a bit of both meaning there’s something for a Steyn and something for an Ashwin too in it.