Team India won the Asia Cup for the seventh time, but they only squeaked through in a last ball win after having made rough weather of a modest target set by Bangladesh in the final. While there is no carping at the performance in a tournament in which our cricketers beat Pakistan twice in Dubai, the question to be asked is whether the much-hyped national team is on track for the World Cup to be played in England next summer. Asia Cup teams like Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan, which managed a memorable tie against India, are not to be scoffed at when it comes to assessing World Cup prospects. It is clear Team India is a long way from the kind of dominance in victories in limited-overs cricket that could make it feel confident about its chances in cricket’s biggest event.
The X factor that makes good teams great seems to be missing in India’s cricket as we saw on the tour of England. The opening batsmen Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan were in good form and gave the starts needed in slow pitch conditions in Dubai in which the new ball is more easily struck than the older one. The personnel making up the pace attack were just about competent. The gaping holes are in the middle order in this team, usually led by Virat Kohli. The batting is shaky despite Dhoni’s reassuring presence even if he isn’t quite the master of the end game as he used to be. There is time for more experiments before finding the right batsmen for the early middle order slots. The fact remains that a seventh Asia Cup triumph means little when it comes to a World Cup in England with all the best teams in the world certain to give their best shot at winning it.
