The World Cup started, there were three games which were one-sided and then Bangladesh thumped South Africa and Pakistan came back from the dead to outsmart hosts and favourites England. The buzz is back, and India has not yet started playing. They will, eventually, after six days when they take on South Africa in their opening clash at Southampton.
Yes, South Africa have lost both their matches and yes, India appears to have a well-rounded team, but for Virat Kohli and management, there are few cracks which need to be plastered. We take a look at three areas of concern for India ahead of the match against the Proteas.
Opening woes
Despite the solid performance of the middle order, India's openers, Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan, have not found their rhythm. They were out of sorts in the two warm-up games and against South Africa, they have to get their act right and give India a start.
If visuals from the nets are anything to go by, both Rohit and Shikhar look in fine touch, the strokes are coming off and there is intent in their play. They now have to walk out and produce the goods against a very potent South African bowling attack.
Kedar Jadhav or Vijay Shankar or Ravindra Jadeja
Vijay Shankar failed in the only warm-up game he got against Bangladesh, Kedar Jadhav was not given the green signal to take the field in both the warm-up matches and Ravindra Jadeja was the star with the bat against New Zealand in the first warm-up match.
So who will Kohli turn to against South Africa? For starters, they need to look at conditions and then decide. Southampton has a superb batting strip and this could mean, India could opt for a bowler who takes the pace off the ball and hence, it could be a toss-up between Kedar Jadhav and Ravindra Jadeja. However, Vijay Shankar got an extended nets session which could well mean he might be the second all-rounder in the side.
Composition of the bowling attack
Virat Kohli praised the impact of his wrist-spinners against Bangladesh and against South Africa, a side which has struggled against this mode of attack, both Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal should be in the side. Also, Jasprit Bumrah will be the leader of the seam attack, which then leaves the spot open for the other fast bowler and it could be a decision between Mohammed Shami and Bhuvneshwar Kumar and the conditions could influence the selection.
