Virat Kohli — and the rest of his India teammates — go into Sunday's World Cup final in fine form. Photo: Getty Images/Indranil Mukherjee
It doesn't matter what field India plays on now. I think they are so much better than any other team in this World Cup that they can play at 70 percent and win even if their opponents are in better shape.
Situation on the field before the match Semi-final me didn't suit me at all. The ICC should not allow this to happen: the World Cup knockout match should be played on a fresh pitch. Likewise, India simply does not need to get involved in this kind of business at the moment. They are too good for this.
This incident reminded us of the balance of power in the game. Nobody batted an eyelid. The Indian board is responsible for and supervises the activities of the ICC. You can't blame the ICC considering how much viewership and sponsorship comes from India. It can be argued that the future of one-day international cricket depends on India winning Sunday's final.
I would be extremely shocked if they didn't win. They have a top five all in scintillating form and their best ODI bowling attack by a country mile. Their offense was good in 2011, but this one is something else. Each of the five goes behind the gates. Typically in one-day cricket there are a couple of attacking bowlers and the rest are holding bowlers. Mohammed Shami has been incredibly good.
With the bat, Virat Kohli has been in amazing form and scoring 50 ODI hundreds is extraordinary and Shreyas Iyer has emerged as a great player. But for me, an oddly underrated piece of the puzzle is Rohit Sharma. I would even say that he is my best player in the tournament, and this has nothing to do with his performance.
I believe that without Rohit all this will not happen and India will not be as good. He forces the team to play selflessly, and not for himself. They do not work for their numbers, but solely for the team, with bat and ball.
At the top of the order, he sets the tone with his pure aggression, providing a dominant platform. He didn't bat that long in this World Cup, but he bowled so quickly and intimidated all the teams they played against. He didn't always play like that, but he showed his teammates how to play.
I think Rohit intimidates the opposition with the way he uses this bowling attack and he makes aggressive changes.
He has brilliant man management. You can only imagine how difficult it must be to maintain the level in Indian cricket, keep everyone calm and keep the players on the same level. Under Rohit's leadership, Indian players are so focused. They do almost no commercial work and rarely give interviews. They are just thinking about the game.
The dynamic with Kohli is wonderful. Kohli has been the captain and the most famous player in the game for a long time. Then someone from the BCCI knocked on his door and told him that he would no longer be captain. For Rohit to take on this task and manage all aspects so well is simply magnificent.
The semi-final was the first time India felt a slight wobble on the field. They didn't play that well and the bowling wasn't quite good, giving away too many extras. Rohit got the team together for drinks and they turned things around. I have no idea what he said, but it worked.
India could have been a worthy World Cup winner if they could get over the line, but overall it wasn't a great tournament. There just weren't many close games. There were probably four really close games? This is not enough for a 48-match tournament. We've seen special moments, be it Glenn Maxwell's fastest hundred in a World Cup, his double hundred or Kohli's 50th century, but in even games there just hasn't been that competitive edge.
I'm not sure why there haven't been many close games, but it follows a trend I think we're seeing in Test cricket these days: teams don't put up a fight very often. I don't know why, maybe it's because of the schedule where the next game is always coming up fast and fast. I feel sorry for both the finalists because four days after one of the biggest games of their careers, they are playing a T20i series against each other. Last year in England it was the same in Australia. How can this be right? Why can't management understand that the players deserve a chance to rest and celebrate after a grueling seven-week World Cup? It's pure greed.
Their never-give-up attitude is what makes New Zealand so refreshing: they never seem defeated. They showed it in the semi-finals. Unfortunately, one of the things about England's tournament was the lack of morale, which I think the players will regret in the coming years.
Another thing about England is that they didn't look as good as they wanted would. which is so important in a hot country like India. It improves your performance on the field — just look at the performances of Marnus Labuschagne and David Warner in the first 20 overs of their semi-final against South Africa. Even at 37, Warner is in good form and that makes a huge difference for his team.
Take Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja too and you are reminded that India is also a leader in this regard. This is another reason why they are the best.
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