India’s ‘offensive defence’ helping to decimate teams

India players celebrate the wicket of Bangladesh’s wicketkeeper-batsman Mushfiqur Rahim in Pune on Thursday. Pic/PTI

The Gahunje pitch in Pune is normally great to bat on and that's exactly how it was on Thursday.

Bangladesh couldn't put up much of a total; 256 was way below-par and India cantered to an easy win.

I'd like to focus on three important parts of India's way forward and why I think they will be very, very tough to beat.

First up is India's dominance in the middle overs, what I term as ‘offensive defence' and that is mainly due to Ravindra Jadeja. He is at the top of his game and bowled beautifully on a complete batting paradise. He kept the ball out of batsmen's range all the time and this is allowing Kuldeep Yadav to bowl more freely.

The Jadeja-Yadav combination gives India that ‘offensive defence' in the middle overs, where normally other teams are just trying to contain runs, but India while containing runs, are also able to attack and take wickets in those overs.

Also Read: ICC World Cup 2023: Rahul's rare trait!

Rohit's captaincy on point

Adding to this the shrewd captaincy of Rohit Sharma, who brings in Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah at regular intervals for one or two during the middle overs. There is always wicket-taking intent in this India team which is great to see.

To be fair, this entire middle overs formation by India will be better tested against better batting line-ups which are South Africa, New Zealand and England. Bangladesh are a good side, but not as good as the above three teams.

The second point is the rather troubling injury to Hardik Pandya. With ankle injuries (and I speak from experience), it is very tough to get back on your feet within a few days. I expect him to be out for maybe one or two games. However, it didn't look that serious so I think he will be back soon. But that puts into play so many permutations and combinations about the playing XI .

I think Team India will either play Suryakumar Yadav or Ishan Kishan. My choice would be Surya because there'll be a genuine batsman at No. 6 which is very much needed in the 50-over game. This will mean taking the field with only five bowlers. Now, that's tough and I think they will go with the five most reliable bowlers. They will be tempted to play Mohammed Shami ahead of Shardul Thakur in Dharamsala, but for the rest of the games, such as England in Lucknow, if Hardik is still not fit then they would be tempted to play Ravichandran Ashwin because the Lucknow pitch will be slow and low.

Kohli on top of his game

My third point is the fantastic knock by Virat Kohli. He is at the top of his game and is in complete control when he's chasing. He loves chasing totals and that's what we saw against Bangladesh.

Right from the time he came in, he looked completely relaxed and toyed with the bowling. Now, with Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli in this kind of form, it becomes imperative for the opposition to get these three guys out very, very cheaply.

That is a tall order for the opposition and as I have maintained throughout in these columns, India are the team to beat. But, there are still three big games out of the next five games - England, New Zealand and South Africa. The NZ game is going to be an important one, because India have not beaten New Zealand in the World Cup since their victory over them at Centurion in 2003.

In bilateral ties, it's a different story but in World Cup games, somehow, New Zealand manage to beat India. So, it is going to be a fantastic game in Dharamsala.

Jatin Paranjape, the ex-India and Mumbai batsman, is a former national selector too. He tweets @jats72