Indian bowlers: The best surprise the World Cup has thrown up so far

The Indian bowling unit has silenced its critics and has been at the heart of India's revival

There have been quite a few surprises in the last 30-odd days in the 2015 World Cup. South Africa didn’t “choke” in a World Cup knockout game, Indian bowlers suddenly look world-class and New Zealand is one of the best-performing teams in the tournament. So even if India were odds-on favourites to beat Bangladesh, no one was taking things for granted. 

Mercifully, Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s men rose to the occasion and recorded a comfortable win over Bangladesh to reach the semi finals. The margin of the victory – 109 runs – does seem impressive on paper but it was a tough match. For the first 30-odd overs, Bangladesh made life extremely difficult for the Indian batsmen and things weren’t looking too good. But Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina held their nerves and steadied the ship. 

So far India have been extremely impressive – winning all their six matches in group stages, they’ve beaten arch-rivals Pakistan and tournament favourites South Africa with considerable amount of ease. India does look like a formidable team and truth be told no team would like to face them.

It certainly has been an impressive turn around for Dhoni and his team, who before the World Cup looked an uninspired and lethargic outfit. The Indian skipper too admitted that India have been playing some very good cricket and that they can’t “shy away from that fact.” 

While the batsmen have done their job  -- and they were expected to – it is the bowlers who’ve surprised one and all.  No Indian batsman has had a stellar World Cup so far but everyone has chipped in from time to time. Barring the West Indies match, the Indian batting has been steady if not super.  

Before the World Cup started, there was fierce criticism of Indian bowlers, including by this writer, but they’ve been extremely impressive. Even Dhoni during the tri-series had said that the bowlers weren’t performing and it was a massive area of concern. But credit to the bowling unit, they have managed to silence their critics. Bangladesh was the seventh successive team that the much-maligned Indian bowlers have bowled out. Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami and Mohit Sharma all have gone about their jobs in a quiet but efficient manner. 

The spotlight has been on the batsmen but most victories have been due to some very good performances by the bowlers. Yadav was extremely good against Bangladesh and bowled with pace and accuracy. In fact, the whole bowling unit has worked very effectively in pairs. There was relentless pressure on Bangladesh from both ends and that has been the striking feature of India’s bowling. For the first time in many years it seems like Indian bowlers have plans for opposition batsmen and are executing them perfectly. 

Sterner test waits in the semi-finals – they play the winner of the quarter final between Australia and Pakistan – but the India juggernaut is gathering pace at the right time. For a change, it’s the bowlers who are getting the limelight for all the right reasons.