India was one of the two finalists of last ICC World Cup Cricket South Africa 2003. That was the first world cup final for India since Kapil Dev’s world champion India in 1983. Team India showed some of their best performance in the tournament playing like the favorite from the beginning of the last world cup. However, unfortunately the Ganguly and Co. could not live up to the demand of many Indians in the final as India could not even stand to the former world champion Australia.
Many have searched the reason behind such a shameful lose and many also tried to find out the reasons which helped them to reach to the final stage uniting and influencing the players to play as a team. However, I think India had one advantage in the last world cup in South Africa which played an important role behind their excellent performance. As India took four bowlers in almost every match and Rahul Dravid played as a wicket keeper, India had the provision of playing two extra specialist batsmen in the best eleven which in many cases made the difference between India and their rival teams. Javagal Srinath, Ashis Nehra, Zaheer Khan and Ajit Agarkar were the pace bowlers and Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble were the spinners in the squad. In most of the matches India followed the three pacer and one spinner strategy which worked well. With the four bowlers, there were some occasional but effective spinners as well such as Yuvraj Singh, Virender Shewag, Sachin Tendulkar. All the supporting bowlers were also very effective and showed their best at the tournament.
Now, another world cup is knocking at the door and rumors regarding the final squad are just roaming around. Is India going to follow the four bowler strategy again? Well, the time can tell the best answer of it. However, I think India can again go for the four bowler strategy in the coming world cup.
Let me be first clear the thing. India could go for the four bowler strategy as they have some inform occasional bowlers who could often give brake through during the last world cup. Moreover, the strike bowlers were also in their good form such as Srinath, Nehra, Zaheer, Harbhajan Singh and Kumble. However, if you look at the Indian squad of the world cup 2003, you can see that there was not any good all-rounder in the team. Bangar who was included as an all-rounder, could hardly contribute for the team during the tournament. For the coming world cup, I can see that there are some potential all-rounders in the first 30 member world cup squad. For sure, I am very much interested to see Suresh Raina at the squad as he is an excellent middle order batsman and effective off-spinner. I saw him playing in the Under 19 world cup and I am sure he can be of a reliable one in the batting line up and can curtail some runs as a very good fielder. For bowling, I think he can effectively check the runs in the middle of the innings.
Furthermore, you can not think that as Rahul is no more a wicketkeeper for the team, India will loose the chance of playing one extra batsman because Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the present wicketkeeper, is well enough to be a specialist batsman for the team. With his hard hitting quality he will be able to add some extra runs in the slog overs. Besides, if Pathan is included in the squad, he will show his batting talent as he did for many times beforehand.
Now you may think about the forms of the specialist bowlers of the team. First, Zaheer Khan, I think, is in his best form now as he has showed excellent performance in the last series against West Indies. Kumble and Harbhajan are going well. Though Pathan has just come back to the team after having some bad performance in the recent series, I think, he will be able to show his best in West Indies. Sachin, Ganguly, Yuvraj are still in the team and all of them have the ability to serve their team as a part time bowler. SHewag may also join in the row. Raina will add some extra dimensions to the bowling line up. So, it is worthless to say that India has a number of options in terms of bowlers than that of last world cup cricket.
You might think that playing four bowlers may create a pressure on the side and cannot work well all the time. For example, you can indicate the final match of the last world cup where the Indian bowlers were totally washed out by the devastating batting of the Australian batsmen. Well, it is also true that it was not only India who was destroyed by the Australian batting; rather almost all of the teams could not stop the aggressive batting of the Aussies throughout the tournament.
However, it is Mr. Chapple and the Indian selectors who will take the final decision regarding the final squad but I will not be astonished, if India follows the four bowler strategy as they did in the last world cup cricket in South Africa.
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