Team India have “ticked eight boxes” so far and will look to tick the ninth one with a win over the Netherlands at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Sunday. That’s how head coach Rahul Dravid views the current situation.
Also, if Virat Kohli gets his milestone 50th ODI ton at a venue that is like home given his Royal Challengers Bangalore connection, it would be the icing on the cake for fans and stakeholders.
That said, India’s actual test will be after the Dutch game, when they face New Zealand in the first semi-final of this World Cup in Mumbai on Wednesday. Dravid is well aware of it.
To break the semi-final jinx, all that the team requires is going out with the right mindset with focus on proper execution, the head coach emphasised. “You still have to play good cricket whether you’re playing in a league game, as we’ve done, or whether you’re playing a semi-final. You’ve got certain skills which you need to execute, and execute really well and better than the opposition,” Dravid said at the news conference on Saturday.
“You just got to focus on that, focus on what you can control, which is your skills and your ability. Prepare yourself both mentally and physically as best as you can for
the game and then just try and do your best in that particular game.”
Since the 2015 World Cup semi-final exit, which the then Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led side had lost to Australia, India suffered setbacks in the last-four clash of the 2016 World T20 (to the West Indies in Mumbai), the 2019 ODI World Cup (to New Zealand in Manchester) and in last year’s T20 World Cup (to England in Adelaide).
Obviously, Rohit Sharma’s side is in a far better shape and rhythm with batters and bowlers firing in unison. That has been pivotal to India being the only unbeaten team so far in the competition.
But it’s an entirely different ballgame as far as the knockout stage is concerned. Besides, the Rohits and Kohlis have all been there in these four semi-final defeats and were in pretty good form as well going into these clashes.
That must be playing on the minds of the Indian batsmen. Though Kohli was absent from Saturday afternoon’s optional training session at the Chinnaswamy, taking throwdowns from the left-handed Sri Lankan Nuwan Seneviratne was again a part of Rohit and his opening partner Shubman Gill’s batting at nets. That, obviously keeping in mind the Trent Boult factor for the semi-final clash.
India have benefitted hugely from the aggressive starts that Rohit has provided upfront, something that will be key in the semi-final as well.
“Rohit has led by example both on and off the field. There were some games where things could have been tricky for us, but the fact that he’s been able to get us off to those kinds of starts has literally cracked open the game.
“We’ve realised the impact his innings have had on those games... Hopefully, it may continue,” Dravid said.
