Agencies
Mumbai, March 30: Two days shy of five years, at the Wankhede Stadium here, Mahendra Singh Dhoni had led India to their second triumph in the 50-over format after a gap of 28 years. Nine years later, only two matches separate Dhoni and his men from achieving their second T20 success, their first triumph coming in 2007 at Durban in South Africa.
How times change? In 2011, no one really talked about Virat Kohli, it was all about Dhoni’s innings and the winning six off Nuwan Kulasekara in the final against Sri Lanka. Now, however, it is only Kohli, Kohli and more Kohli in Mumbai as India prepare to take on the West Indies at the Wankhede here Thursday.
Mumbai has always called itself the uncrowned king of Indian batting. First there were Vijay Manjrekar and Polly Umrigar, then came Sunil Gavaskar and Dilip Vengasarkar and finally Sachin Tendulkar. Mumbai cricket pundits always state that the best Indian batsmen come from its territory and nowhere else. But today those same pundits can’t find the appropriate words to describe the genius of Kohli and they have no hesitation in saying that the King’s mantle has been taken away by Delhi.
“Look at the talent of the boy (Kohli), he has three shots to offer to each delivery. Even Sachin did not have that,” opined Vasu Paranjpe, one of the most renowned coaches here. “The guy plays T20 cricket with orthodox cricket shots. Only a genius can do that,” stated Vengsarkar. And everyone is in complete agreement that Kohli is already a legend irrespective of whether he fires or not, Thursday.
The Delhi batsman have won India two matches single-handedly, but he will certainly expect his mates to give him some support against the marauding Chris Gayle and players like Dwayne Bravo, Darren Sammy to name a few. The powerfully built West Indians, no doubt start as underdogs, but then the T20 version of the game is such that even the weakest of teams can upset the favourite’s juggernaut. The game is so short that it doesn’t give you a second chance and the Indians would do well to remember that.
The Indians have been hit hard as Yuvraj Singh has been ruled out of the rest of the tournament with the ankle injury that he suffered against Australia. It is a real blow as Yuvi was at least consistently getting those 20-odd runs, something that Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan and Suresh Raina have failed to get in the tournament so far.
But then who will replace him is a big debate. Team director Ravi Shastri wants homeboy Ajinkya Rahane, while skipper Dhoni is rooting for left-arm spinner Pawan Negi who also can bat a bit. If sources are to be believed then Dhoni will have the last say because the pitch is expected to be a slow turner and Rahane has never really been the skipper’s blue-eyed boy.
On paper, man to man, India are a far superior side than the West Indians. The hosts have better depth in batting, better spin bowlers, a better T20 pace attack and are also a better fielding side. But the world has seen what a Gayle storm can do.
India would not like to see that it in the immediate future which is Thursday.