Unbeaten but Unconvincing: India sweep group stage 4-0 — Tougher tests await in Super 8

Ahmedabad, 19 February – India marched into the Super 8 stage of the T20 World Cup with a perfect 4-0 record, yet the defending champions leave the group phase with more questions than answers after a stuttering 17-run win over the Netherlands at a heaving Narendra Modi Stadium on Wednesday night.

The scorecard will show Shivam Dube’s career-best T20I 66 off 28 balls and Varun Chakravarthy’s mystery-spin triple-strike that restricted the Dutch to 176 for 7 in pursuit of 193. It will not show the unease that has stalked India’s batting in every outing, an unease that better-resourced opponents are already dissecting.

Four games, four different saviours In the tournament’s opening fortnight India have relied on a rotating cast of rescuers: Suryakumar Yadav’s calculated 34 anchored the chase against the USA; Ishan Kishan’s back-to-back cameos steadied nerves versus Namibia and Pakistan; on Wednesday it was Dube who hauled the innings from 92 for 4 in the 13th over to 193 for 6 with six soaring sixes and four fours, 76 of those runs coming in a 35-ball alliance with Hardik Pandya.

Yet the common thread has been a top order unable to impose itself. World No.1 T20I batter Abhishek Sharma has registered two ducks and two no-scores, exposing Tilak Varma in the powerplay. Varma’s new tactic of farming strike without boundary intent has bled momentum, while Suryakumar’s watchfulness has allowed disciplined attacks to squeeze the middle overs. On Wednesday the pair mustered 30 from 28 balls together, a lull that allowed the Netherlands to believe an upset was brewing.

Dube’s calculated assault Facing a varied Dutch pace-spin cocktail, Dube refused to pre-meditate. He read length off the hand, cleared the front leg only when the ball was there to be hit, and never mistimed in the arc between long-on and deep mid-wicket. Even as Hardik scratched to 35 off 34, Dube’s clean striking ensured India still posted a par-plus total on a surface offering seam movement under lights.

Chakravarthy turns the screw Netherlands began brightly, Bas de Leede and Zach Lion-Cachet taking 44 off the first four overs against Jasprit Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh. Enter Chakravarthy. In a three-over master-class the 32-year-old knuckled one through Aryan Dutt’s gate, had Teja Nidamanuru caught at cover first ball and then watched Vikramjit Singh drag a carrom ball to deep mid-wicket. At 72 for 5 in the ninth over the chase was effectively over; the lower order merely narrowed the margin.

Warning lights for Super 8 India used seven bowlers on the night, even handing Abhishek Sharma an over to keep options fluid ahead of the 22 February clash with South Africa. Yet the batting frailties exposed by Gerhard Erasmus, Salman Agha, Saim Ayub and Usman Tariq in earlier games have not been remedied. Aiden Markram, Roston Chase and Sikandar Raza will have noted the stodgy middle-overs approach and an opener yet to get off the mark.

Brief scores: India 193/6 in 20 overs (Shivam Dube 66, Suryakumar Yadav 34; Logan van Beek 3-56, Aryan Dutt 2-19) beat Netherlands 176/7 in 20 overs (Bas de Leede 33, Zach Lion-Cachet 26; Varun Chakravarthy 3-14, Shivam Dube 2-35) by 17 runs.

India, unbeaten but still unconvincing, now have four days to find a complete performance before the competition’s heavyweights come knocking.