Team India should finetune its footwork flaws before the World Cup

It’s a delight to watch Afghanistan’s spinners Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi who have class and an insatiable appetite for wickets. The flamboyant South African leg spinner, Imran Tahir has become the centre of attraction for his thunderous appeal for LBW. It is equally interesting to watch the Indian wrist spinners Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, and Gopal. Interestingly, the spinners reign supreme in the IPL tournament. Thanks to the footwork flaw which has infected the majority of the batsmen in the short format of the IPL tournament.

Yuzvendra Chahal, Imran Tahir, Ravichandran Ashwin, Rashid Khan, Shreyas Gopal, Mohammad Nabi, Rahul Chahar, Harbhajan Singh, Ashwin, and Ravindra Jadeja together have so far grabbed 87 wickets in the IPL 2019. Imran Tahir is ranked second in the purple cap list with 15 scalps. Cricket pundits argue IPL is a short format and the batsmen have to skip footwork grammar for creative and innovative shots. But the basic footwork flaw cannot be compromised at any circumstances.

In the IPL matches, Tahir, Rashid, Nabi, Chahal, Jadeja, and Santner have repeatedly breached the defence of the top batsmen of the tournament. The situation may become tough for the batsmen in the World Cup where each spinner will get the advantage of bowling ten overs each. A world-class spinner backed by good fielding can exploit the messy footwork in his ten overs. One can recall how the spin duo Adam Zampa and Nathan Lyon of Australia troubled Indian top order in the recently concluded ODI and T20 matches in India. The young Australian team walked away with two consecutive series win.

Team India has some amount of introspection before the World Cup. The batsmen have to survive the weather and the movement in England while rotating the scoreboard and taking a calculated risk. If the top order fails, the middle order should be in a position to repair the innings and the tailenders have to consolidate the gain with lusty hitting.

When the Indian bowling attack looks good with Shami, Bhubi, Bumrah, Chahal, and Yadav, the batting needs to bridge the gap. A batsman with all the power and strokes is of no use if he does not have a sound defence to survive quality bowling. The IPL has in fact aggravated the footwork problems. India will be playing a couple of warm-up matches before the World Cup and will need to restore their big match temperament and improve the footwork.