A closer look at the games will reveal that India, rated by many as tournament favourites, have been far from impressive. They were given a run for their money by Bangladesh in the tournament opener. England almost chased down 339. The batting wobbled against Ireland and The Netherlands too gave plenty of headaches to the team as from a position of strength, they suddenly collapsed.
The match against England exposed the team's thin bowling resources and was a pointer that against teams of equal strength, India will struggle. With two tough games coming up, one each against South Africa, on Saturday and against West Indies in Chennai on March 20, the team better pull up its socks. Yes, the quarterfinal berth may have been assured, but there are important brownie points to be scored. The games against South Africa and West Indies will be the true pointer of whether India will be probable to go deeper into the tournament.
There is an opinion being expressed that India took the games against Ireland and The Netherlands a bit too lightly while they were batting and the scratchy wins were a result of that. While the bowling is the biggest weak link, the fielding too is nothing much to write about. Skipper MS Dhoni admitted that the team has many slow and un athletic fielders and hence step up in fielding can't be expected during the course of the tournament. But a crucial drop in the knock-out games or a missed run out chance could bring the hosts' campaign to an early end.
But everything isn't so gloomy. Yuvraj Singh's form should cheer up even India's biggest critics. In what can be termed as more good news for the favourites, the team tied a match against England, who in turn defeated South Africa; West Indies, who are scheduled to play the last league match against India, lost to South Africa. A simplistic evaluation of these dynamics is likely to give the boys in blue a psychological edge ahead of the mouth-watering contests. India have been notoriously slow starters in major tourneys, but if they peak at the business end of the tournament, no one would complain.
The match against England exposed the team's thin bowling resources and was a pointer that against teams of equal strength, India will struggle. With two tough games coming up, one each against South Africa, on Saturday and against West Indies in Chennai on March 20, the team better pull up its socks. Yes, the quarterfinal berth may have been assured, but there are important brownie points to be scored. The games against South Africa and West Indies will be the true pointer of whether India will be probable to go deeper into the tournament.
There is an opinion being expressed that India took the games against Ireland and The Netherlands a bit too lightly while they were batting and the scratchy wins were a result of that. While the bowling is the biggest weak link, the fielding too is nothing much to write about. Skipper MS Dhoni admitted that the team has many slow and un athletic fielders and hence step up in fielding can't be expected during the course of the tournament. But a crucial drop in the knock-out games or a missed run out chance could bring the hosts' campaign to an early end.
But everything isn't so gloomy. Yuvraj Singh's form should cheer up even India's biggest critics. In what can be termed as more good news for the favourites, the team tied a match against England, who in turn defeated South Africa; West Indies, who are scheduled to play the last league match against India, lost to South Africa. A simplistic evaluation of these dynamics is likely to give the boys in blue a psychological edge ahead of the mouth-watering contests. India have been notoriously slow starters in major tourneys, but if they peak at the business end of the tournament, no one would complain.
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