There have been two scores above 200 so far, both in Sydney, which has the slowest pace and second-lowest bounce among the venues in this T20 World Cup. The fast bowling in this tournament has been excellent. Five of the six bowlers returning an economy below five in this Super 12 round are pacers. Sam Curran has five wickets. Trent Boult picked four wickets against Sri Lanka on Saturday. Movement off the pitch and in the air was encouraging enough to accommodate slips, reducing Powerplay scores and encouraging batsmen to be more careful.
India has quietly reworked its tactics. Spring in Australia is not a good time for a shake. While it is about playing fearless cricket on and off the field, there have clearly been changes in tactics. Virat Kohli’s once-maligned approach – starting cautiously and ending on a high note – may have been Australia’s most idiosyncratic during this time. Kohli is also back to playing like this. Against Pakistan at the MCG, Kohli’s first 25 runs came off 28 balls before he shifted gears to score 57 off the next 25 balls. In Sydney too, his first 25 runs came off 24 balls and his next 37 runs came off 20 balls.
Kohli’s approach has influenced others. In the first game against Pakistan, Hardik Pandya was cautious in a very tense chase, and against the Netherlands, Rohit Sharma did so after the early exit of KL Rahul. Suryakumar Yadav’s presence is the deciding factor here. Since this is a game of strike rate, Yadav’s high strike rate of 190s can compensate for slow starts. So, even though everyone was playing their game, India’s chances of scoring did not diminish as the targets were restored.
India coach Vikram Rathoor feels that there may not be high scores in this tournament. “I think it’s not 200, 200-plus wickets, so we have to adapt; I think we’ve done a good job so far,” he said at a pre-match press conference on Saturday. “We are trying to adapt. Of course, playing with intent is always the goal. But then we have to consider the conditions we play in, the surfaces we play in.”
Asked if Kohli was consciously trying to change his approach, especially after the Asia Cup, Rathur said, “Not really. We pride ourselves on being a team that takes conditions and circumstances into consideration, and that’s what we’ve tried to do. The condition, the situation demanded that he play a certain way and he did. He’s a good enough player to change his mind or adapt to what the team needs and he’s done great so far. We know he will continue to do so.”