Mighty India Make Wobbly Start In Road Towards Cricket T20 World Cup Redemption

Amid the hangover of the Australian rules football season, undisputedly the most popular sport in Western Australia’s capital of Perth, October can be a sleepy month in a transition before summer.

But cricket, which mostly dominates in its height of season in December and January, is making an earlier splash Down Under with the looming T20 World Cup, which was postponed by two years because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

With most diehard AFL fans still thoroughly consumed by the post season trade season, which is mostly hot air but hogs the limelight, mighty India arrived in Perth to launch their T20 World Cup campaign with little fanfare.

So it seemed a bit of an overkill when their training sessions at the WACA’s nets were shrouded in secrecy with tarp wrapped around the fencing. It did make, to be fair, an impressive sight and their dedication for privacy was underlined by security officers inside the compound repeatedly warning pesky fans to move away.

Those threats failed to deter Indian fans with some brave enough to climb trees in a bid to merely see their heroes go through the formality of training. Only their officials truly know the reasoning for such a closed doors approach although it only cemented an unwanted reputation that India’s cash-rich governing body runs a tightly controlled ship.

But once the unofficial warm-up games started at the iconic WACA, against a strong Western Australia XI in BCCI-sanctioned games with the (AUD) $5 entry fee going to the WA Cricket Foundation, the mask was off.

India’s rock star players, especially talisman Virat Kohli, interacted playfully with their beloved fans comprising most of the roughly 5000 spectators who attended on the working days.

They were clearly in good spirits in sunny but mild conditions knowing these matches were unofficial warm-up games and thus low-key events. Except nothing involving India is low-key even though there was no official broadcast of the match, other than a couple of opportunistic Indian reporters in the terraces streaming and commentating on their phones, which in effect heightened the intrigue over the matches.

Teams are, of course, experimenting before the T20 World Cup starts next week so it’s not yet time to panic. Nonetheless, there are concerns for India who squeezed a 13-run win in game one on Monday before a rather comprehensive 36-run defeat on Thursday. Their batters struggled against effectively BBL champions Perth Scorchers’ pace attack, particularly looking rushed against in-form speedster Lance Morris who bowled rapidly over 90kmh.

India rested Kohli and skipper Rohit Sharma, who both did take the field during WA XI’s innings, but only stand-in captain KL Rahul made over 20 runs with 74 in a lone hand.

The 30-year-old batted particularly slowly early as the run rate required started to spiral out of control and only really flourished in the 18th over when he tore into left-arm quick Jason Behrendorff.

But he left his charge too late as India head to Brisbane for their official warm-up game against Australia on Monday needing a confidence boost. One would suspect Kohli will get a hit after he batted energetically in short sessions in the middle of the WACA following both games.

India’s batting has question marks with dynamic left-handed batter Rishabh Pant looking all at sea against quick bowling from Behrendorff in game two before holing out in an ugly dismissal.

India’s bowlers, however, were more impressive especially in game one when quicks Arshdeep Singh and Bhuvneshwar Kumar tore through WA XI’s top-order to leave them reeling at 4 for 12. The pair will have to step up on quicker Australian wickets with India missing injured star Jasprit Bumrah in a major blow.

After missing the first game, veteran spinner Ravichandran Ashwin summoned his wealth of experience and trademark guile after a sluggish start to engineer a fightback for India with three wickets.

Aiming to rebound from a major flop at last year’s T20 World Cup, played in the UAEUAE
after India relinquished hosting due to a rise of Covid-19, India are under pressure to win their first title since the inaugural event in 2007.

They’ll be hoping to ramp up their preparations in Brisbane ahead of the blockbuster clash against foe Pakistan on October 23, which will have the cricket world in a standstill.