INDIA into the semis

India go into the semis as the only team to have won all their group matches.

There is yet another similarity. India went into the Champions Trophy with the dark clouds of the IPL spot fixing scandal hovering over their heads. India came into this edition of the World T20, with those same clouds reappearing and shoving their murky face again. Add to that, the continued abomination with spate of overseas losses since December and failure in the Asia Cup, Indian cricket was ailing and pretty close to being bedridden, on and off the cricket field.

But, as often happens in Indian cricket, they have sprung quite a surprise, an extremely pleasant one for its fans, and an undesirable one for the opponents. What has been more surprising is that the performance has not been a product of the Kohli effect and the daunting batting lineup. It has been due to the much criticized, greatly mocked, majorly “impotent”, Indian bowling attack. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammad Shami along with the spin triplets of Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin and Amit Mishra, have choked and strangulated their opposition into submission.

In a tournament where every team has conceded more than 160 at least once, India have restricted their oppositions to scores of 130, 129, 138 and 86 in their four outings. Bhuvneshwar has been the most economical bowler among all those who have bowled a minimum of 10 overs in the competition. He has ensured that the opposition hasn’t got away with big runs in the powerplay overs. Shami has been expensive, but a steady and dependable pacer.

Jadeja has been slightly more expensive than his usual self, but has picked up wickets regularly, never spoiling the broth. He has ably supported his fellow spinners in the middle and death overs.

India’s batting was hardly tested in the first 3 matches, with Rohit, Kohli and Raina filling in their sacks with some easy runs under not much pressure.