Life must be lived forward, but can only be understood backwards. What the Danish philosopher Kierkegaard said in another context applies equally to cricket, and in particular to the World Cup.
England have, in the quickly evolving cliche of the day, played like Pakistan; Australia have laboured where they ought to have breezed through; South Africa and Sri Lanka have looked unbeatable one day and vulnerable the next; the West Indies look like an incomplete team; Pakistan are hoping that “their day” comes on at least two successive occasions, in the knockouts.
In short, this is an open World Cup, and we haven’t learnt anything about the teams that we didn’t know already.
What of the so-called favourites? You could make a list under the heading, ‘Why India will not win the World Cup’ and another under ‘Why India will win’, and discover a curious overlap. In the former will be such much-discussed drawbacks as playing at home, medium-pace bowling, spin bowling, middle-order batting, fielding, captaincy and in the other list will be the advantages of playing at home, spin bowling, middle-order batting and captaincy.
This is not as strange as it sounds.
When the quarter-finals begin (or, as some would say, the real World Cup begins), India know they can convert their handicaps into match-winning advantages.
Spinners will find the wickets rather more in their favour than a month ago when the tournament began. The performance of the debutant West Indies leggie, Devendra Bishoo, who took three against England on Thursday, may be a sign of things to come.
Harbhajan Singh has improved with every game, and even if he has not taken wickets as befits a bowler of his skill and experience, he has kept the runs down after a shaky start to his campaign.
Should Ravichandran Ashwin do well on his home ground against the West Indies, India will suddenly find their spin options giving cause for optimism. Yuvraj Singh’s five-in-an-innings might have come against Ireland, and against better teams he might not be so effective, but he is the best among the second-best.
The middle-order batting has been affected by a strange impermanence. Now that the top three are among the runs, and the numbers five and six are Yuvraj and Dhoni, the question mark is over the positions four and seven.
After his century against Bangladesh (at No 4), Virat Kohli has been off centre stage for a while, but he is too good a player to miss out. All he needs — and this applies to a number of players — is the captain’s confidence.
Once the middle-order settles down, the pressure will be off the medium-pacers, none of whom barring Zaheer Khan has looked the part.
It will also mean that India can hope to score the additional 25 or 30 runs needed to make up for their abysmal fielding. Yusuf Pathan at No 7 looked such a good option till Dale Steyn turned him inside out. But that was at four, and he should be back at seven.
The key to India’s progress, however, will be the mind of skipper Dhoni. Leading by instinct looks spectacular when gambles pay off, but when they don’t, the captain looks silly and innocent of any cricketing knowledge.
India’s team selection, their batting order, field placing, powerplay tactics, have often appeared strange. The refusal to give the entire squad at least one match in the early round — especially against the lesser teams — has meant that players who might be needed in crunch situations don’t have sufficient match practice.
Piyush Chawla might be considered a lucky mascot by the skipper, just as S Sreesanth might be seen as bad news. Dhoni said after the South Africa match that his batsmen should stop being selfish and remember they are playing for the country.
The same applies to the skipper too. He must put aside his personal feelings and choose teams that will serve the country best.
The captain who built up a reputation for clear thinking under pressure and a positive approach now plays safety-first. This, added to the lack of fire while fielding, gives the team a slightly rudderless look when things are going against them.
This, more than anything else is the attitude they will have to overcome, and quickly. And hence Dhoni’s crucial role.
Decisions that originate in cricketing logic can go wrong too, but at least the skipper will have the satisfaction of knowing he did the right thing.
Had Harbhajan bowled the last over against South Africa to the left-hander Peterson, India might still have lost. But at least that would have been the right thing to do. Dhoni has been very good at absorbing pressure, and this Indian team is vastly experienced.
What they need to do before they play the quarterfinal is to take a deep breath, and start their campaign afresh.
There have been enough ‘positives’ (to quote captains at the post-match interview) to take from the preliminary stage. The openers are in top form, Gautam Gambhir has got among the runs, and Yuvraj has been relishing the return to the role of the finisher.
Dhoni is due for a big one. Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan have been carrying the bowling — India will need to pick their best bowlers rather than a combination based on theory. The fielding, as the captain never tires of telling us, is beyond repair.
All teams in the quarterfinals know they have to get it right for just two matches and they are in the final. That can cut both ways. A bad day, and the campaign is over. The time is right for an individual to take the World Cup and make it his own in the manner that someone like Aravinda de Silva did the last time the tournament was held in the subcontinent.
