When the ICC World T20 kicked off, India did not go into the event with a lot of confidence. Their disastrous tours away from home were followed by a pathetic Asia Cup campaign. However, things can change around very quickly in the T20 format. And, that is exactly what has happened. With impressive wins against Pakistan and defending champions West Indies, India are now only a win away from inching ever so closer to the semi-final spot. They have exploited the conditions very well, and would be confident of pulling off a triumph against hosts Bangladesh as well on Friday.
Rather surprisingly, India have done exceedingly well in both the games; their bowling in particular has been excellent. Against Pakistan as well as West Indies, they held the opponents to low scores. Leggie Amit Mishra who, till a month back, was a passenger in the team, has suddenly become the most important part of the outfit. He has bamboozled the batsmen with his variations while also impressing with his control. India would be expecting another high-class performance from him as they take on hosts Bangladesh, who are extremely low on confidence having gone down, first to Hong Kong, and then to West Indies.
Mishra has not been the only bright spot in the Indian bowling unit. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who hadn’t had a decent game for a while, came up with a sensational bowling effort against West Indies. His stifling spell was what set back the Windies early on, and they could never recover. Ravindra Jadeja did go for some runs in the match against West Indies, but he also picked up three wickets. As a bowling combination, India will look towards the trio of Mishra, Kumar and Jadeja to fire.
Since the bowlers have done so well in the two matches that India have featured in so far, their batsmen haven’t had to stretch themselves that much. Still, the think tank would be pleased that a couple of their batsmen have played themselves into good form heading into the knockout stages at the tournament. After missing out against Pakistan, Rohit Sharma made up for the same with a sublime half-century against the Windies. Further, Virat Kohli has played two innings of quality. Even Suresh Raina, over whom question marks were raised, came in and eased the team to a win against Pakistan.
All is not well for India though. The off-field developments pertaining to Indian cricket might affect them, as will the form of Yuvraj Singh. All eyes will actually be on the all-rounder, and ardent fans of India will hope that he gets his act right. The highly worrisome aspect is that he has not only struggled with the bat but with the ball and in the field as well. Better performances would also be expected of Shikhar Dhawan, who has been loose in his strokeplay. Overall, the match will present India with a great chance to progress a step ahead in the event.
Yuvraj the main cause of concern as India face Bangladesh- Cricwaves Mobile