The Improbable secure a hefty win for India, but what next?

If you woke up today thinking that Rohit Sharma, Harbhajan Singh and Piyush Chawla would play, and do well, then you are either insane or God himself. India shutting down England like this is surely a rare event. And this was even more surprising because it was thought that the Indians didn’t have much firepower in their bowling. But tell that to the bewildered English batsmen, and you might find some wisdom imparted to you.

Winning the toss here should have been a nice start for England, as the threat of rain meant that they would always be a step ahead of the Indians, who had dropped Sehwag, Zaheer and Ashwin for Dinda, Chawla and Harbhajan respectively. Actually, they did start well, getting rid of the clueless and a surprise opener Pathan for 8. After then, it was the usual Kohli show, timing and placing the ball with jaw-dropping ease. Gambhir was a bit scratchy, but helped his team to evade that dangerous early period. Kohli departed after a well-made 40, being done by Swann, who, later in the over, should’ve got Gambhir too. Nevertheless, it was meant to be Sharma’s day.

Ironically, a badly out of form Sharma came out to replace the sublime Kohli. He did well; caressing and pushing, dabbing and hoicking for a 33-ball-55. Dhoni, in a debatable move, promoted himself above Yuvraj yet again as India limped towards a very gettable 170.

The English start was ghastly. They lost 2 wickets inside 3 overs, both to Pathan. Kieswetter hit a few around and the quicks again looked out of sorts, before India introduced spin. And all of a sudden, wickets started crumbling like dominoes. So much so, an English side cruising at 38/2 was reduced to 60/9 in about 12 overs, thanks to the spin of both Harbhajan (MoM, 4-2-12-4) and Chawla. So ultimately, it turned out to be a great day for the Indians. But wait, what’s in store for them next?

Morgan watches as his middle stump prepares to go out for a walk

No one should judge a team by just one performance. This applies to both England and India. England, for obvious reasons, and India, for the following. Now that India has topped their group, we can expect them to meet Pakistan, South Africa and Australia in the next round. This could be a repeat of the 2009 World Cup, wherein India lost all the three super 8 matches following their thumping of the mighty Proteas in the group stage. We all know what all the three aforementioned teams are capable of. And by the looks of it, India seems to be the least likely team to go through to the semis, even if they defeat the mighty Pakistan, which is highly probable, owing to the dismal Pakistani record against the Indians in World Cups. Can India go through to the semis, in which case it will most likely meet sides which would be easier to defeat than the sides they would already have defeated in super eights? This tournament has just taken the most interesting of turns. Stay tuned, for things will only get better.