India's batters might get the headlines, but their bowlers will win them the World Cup

India, over the years, have been known as a batting powerhouse. Whenever the biggest stars of the game are talked about, they have, more often than not, been batters. Whether it be Rahul Dravid, Rohit Sharma, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly or, of course, Virat Kohli.

If you were to stumble onto popular sports video streaming websites, you would find countless montages. Some of the knocks they have played. Some just comprise of strokes they have manufactured, at times, against the best the opposition has to offer.

It is not that India have completely disregarded bowlers historically. But it is just that when they are pitted against their batting counterparts, in a popularity contest or in a pre-game broadcast hype, they come a distant second.

Batting sells. Batters grab headlines. The best batters hog the limelight. Bowlers, meanwhile, do the lesser fashionable job. In a 10-over spell, they will, on a good day, perhaps get five wickets. A batter, in contrast, can, even in a 40-50-run knock, find the fence multiple times and give those watching more to cheer about.

So, you kind of get why the dynamics are the way they are. No blot on the bowler’s abilities, mind you. It is just what it is.

Ask anyone who has played the game (or witnessed enough of it), though, and they will probably throw this old adage at you – batters win you games, bowlers win you tournaments.

You may or may not agree with that assessment but that is not the point of this piece. It is not a batters versus bowlers debate. Rather, it is how India, by virtue of the bowlers they have, might just end up winning the World Cup.

And why they are a cut above the rest of the pack – again, because of how special this particular bowling attack is.

Australia and Pakistan have failed to score more than 200 against India at the World Cup

Against Pakistan, India opted to play four pacers and two spinners. Hardik Pandya, technically, was the fourth seamer but he ended up bowling a lot more than Shardul Thakur. He was quite penetrative too, picking up the crucial wicket of Imam-ul-Haq, setting Pakistan back initially, just as they were looking to move through the gears.

India’s other premier all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, fresh from his three-wicket haul against Australia, bagged a couple of wickets too. Kuldeep Yadav, his spin-twin, also popped up with a two-for, with those including the scalps of Iftikhar Ahmed and Saud Shakeel, two batters who could have hurt India greatly.

The show, however, was stolen by India’s pace spearheads. Mohammed Siraj, it must be said, will have better days and for the most part on Saturday, looked a little off the boil. But when it mattered, he produced moments of magic.

Pakistan had gotten off to a good start, with both of their openers looking good. Siraj, having erred on the fuller and wider side in his first three overs, resorted to bowling cross-seam, perhaps to exert more control, and to make the most of what was a two-paced surface.

It worked a charm. The ball kept low, rapped Abdullah Shafique on the pads and he did not even bother with the review. Siraj then came back to rip out Babar Azam, who had just completed his half-century. This one pitched on a length, nipped back sharply, and almost beat the Pakistan skipper for pace, rattling into off stump as he tried the dab down to third man.

Not a great deal of help from the surface. But decisive enough, because Siraj had the requisite skill to exploit it.

Bumrah then came into his own. His first spell was anyway very tidy and posed a lot of questions. His second spell, though, illustrated why he is the best white-ball bowler on the planet.

Mohammad Rizwan, in the recent past, has scored runs for fun. Against different oppositions and in a variety of conditions. Even he did not have an answer to Bumrah’s genius.

The ball that got him out was an off-cutter. It pitched on a length just outside off. Rizwan, unaware of the change in pace, played down the original line. He then watched in disbelief as the ball ripped back (because of the wrist-action Bumrah had imparted) and crashed into off stump.

Shadab Khan departed minutes later – this time, the ball pitched on off and straightened just enough - beating Shadab on the outside and clattering into the top of middle and off.

Both dismissals were vastly different but very similar at the same time. Because Bumrah knew what he was doing all along, and the Pakistan batters did not.

That passage, in a nutshell, highlights why India have the best bowling attack at the World Cup.

The pitch rolled out for the Pakistan game was not easy to bowl on because of its sluggishness, as Kuldeep pointed out at the mid-innings break. But India kept at it, and they were rewarded – sometimes, even when it seemed a wicket was completely off the cards. That seven of their wickets were either bowled or lbw also tells you they rarely give the stumps away, and that quality, irrespective of where they will play, will come in handy.

The biggest tilting scale in India’s favor, however, is that their bowlers, even when asked to do different things, can come up trumps. Siraj very rarely bowls cross-seam, yet, when he did against Pakistan, he got what he wanted. Pandya usually hits a hard length, yet, he pushed the ball fuller to draw a false response from Imam. Kuldeep, too, bowled a lot straighter and quicker, with Bumrah mixing up his pace beautifully.

If India are a little braver, and if they do not worry as much about their batting, they could add Mohammed Shami into the mix to cause more mayhem. Whether they do it or not is another matter altogether.

The prospect, though, is enticing, and for oppositions, very scary.

Due to these factors, India, whether it be a turning track, or a seaming surface, will always be in the game. Because their bowlers are so good and seem to have so many ways to get a particular batter out. And, they seem to be sharing the wicket-taking load too.

Saturday against Pakistan, in fact, was only the second time in a men’s ODI World Cup that five India bowlers had picked up two wickets apiece. The other time they managed it? Against this very opposition. In 2011. At Mohali.

We all know what happened that year. Maybe then, the old adage – that bowlers win you tournaments - is correct. For India, it helps that the best are on their side.