Keys to Victory: India
No. 5: Win the toss and bowl
In six of the last seven matches in CT17, the team that has won the toss has bowled first and gone on to win the match. But which way the coin lands will feel even more important in this fixture, for one overriding reason: Virat Kohli. He has already made a barely comprehensible 17 centuries in ODI run-chases, 15 in winning causes. So Pakistan will want to bowl first at The Oval and at least try to force him into making the running. The problem for Pakistan is if the coin falls in Kohli’s favour – he will have no hesitation bowling first, and letting his classy new-ball bowlers loose. If Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah make early inroads, Pakistan could be in for a very long day. Especially with the spectre of Kohli looming large in the chase...
No. 4: Get to 40-0 off 10
As in the first match between these teams at Edgbaston, if India’s top order gets settled a huge score is almost guaranteed. Shikhar Dhawan (317) and Rohit Sharma (304) are the tournament’s leading run-scorers, while Kohli is the phenomenon in front of two bona fide legends in Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni. Pakistan’s best bet is to get amongst that top order early; but if Dhawan and Sharma can play solidly for those first 10 overs, aiming to set a base, then India will run riot later on.
No. 3: Play cool
Throughout CT17, whenever an Indian player has been asked about Pakistan, they studiously refuse to get drawn in to it. It’s a clear ploy to drain the drama out of one of sport’s fiercest rivalries, but it can only ever be partially successful. The atmosphere for this one, for a game in the heart of London, will be tumultuous. Tickets have been more coveted for this match than they were for the Ashes in 2005. This is huge. India have in recent years dominated this fixture by keeping their combustibility levels under control. “Once you start thinking that it's a big game, then your mindset changes,” Kohli says. He will be drilling his players to maintain that same state of emotional detachment. It will be the biggest test of his captaincy to date.
No. 2: Attack with the new ball
Pakistan’s abject showing with the bat in its first meeting with India was underpinned by an inability to attack in the opening 15 overs. But for the second match it brought in Fakhar Zaman, who has been a revelation as an opener, hitting 138 runs at a strike rate of 117 with two fifties. India will need to tie him down, and Bumrah in particular is a master against left-handers, going around the wicket and attacking the stumps. Furthermore, Bumrah has real pace, so expect two men to be posted on the leg-side boundary and a few short balls to be tried against Fakhar, who’s already developed a reputation as a ‘happy hooker’. Get him early, and India will be in the box seat.
No. 1: Repel Pakistan’s spirit
Silence the crowd, dampen the mood, turn Pakistan in on themselves, win the game.
