India’s ageing World Cup house has a leaking roof named Hardik - The Indian Express

There is no countdown clock peering at Team India in Thiruvananthapuram, no ticking needles to remind them that the World Cup is 373 days away. But the reminders are frequent enough. In the press conference rooms. In the pleasantries exchanged with acquaintances. In the calendar, which carves out more days for a format now some way past middle age.

The house, on first impressions, is beatific. Half a dozen of its inhabitants could win a day, or a night, on their own. Champagne bottles and trophies sit on the mantelpiece. Three of them, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah, are among the greatest the game has produced. Vaunted talents push for spots, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Tilak Varma among them, keeping the seniors on their toes and giving the selectors a headache no aspirin will fix. At full strength, the house looks dazzling.

But as with many grand old houses, you need to step inside to spot the shapeless rooms, the leaking drainage, the clumsy wiring, the creaking furniture. Not uninhabitable, but not as magnificent as it looks from outside. The series against West Indies, ranked tenth, will not test the foundations the way a World Cup will, but it is a chance to check how sturdy those foundations are before the storms get worse. India have lost seven of their last 15 games in this format, not the number a team with world-beating ambitions wants to carry.

It is an ageing house. Four of its pillars will be 35 or beyond when the tournament begins. Age hasn’t touched the form yet, but even a brief ailing spell between now and then would cause panic. Gaikwad, Yashasvi and Jurel are outsiders for now, but this series is a platform to find runs, stay in the selectors’ memory, and be ready if the call comes. Batting, though, is the smaller of India’s worries.

The real state of the house shows in the rear and the kitchen. The balance hinges on one pillar, Hardik Pandya, the brick that holds the walls together. His form is seldom in doubt; his fitness is. He was the missing link in the 2023 final, perhaps the reason India lost after an otherwise irresistible march. A new shin injury has ruled him out of the series against Australia, and he has not played an ODI since the Champions Trophy. Since then, India have fretted over balance, weighing an extra batsman against an extra bowler. The old flaw persists: none of India’s batsmen bowl, and among the bowlers guaranteed a start, only Ravindra Jadeja bats.

Nitish Kumar Reddy offers a balm, though it isn’t yet clear if he’s a long-term answer in this format. His batting has flourished in Tests, his bowling in T20s. In ODIs, he hasn’t yet strung together the performance that would let the selectors relax. He will figure in the next few series regardless, with time to develop. If his career takes off, he could be more than Hardik’s back-up: an ally, a second engine to power India toward the title it hasn’t won. If Hardik keeps breaking down and Nitish flatlines, India’s balance would be as symmetric as a scalene triangle.

India have to prepare for that scenario too, a composition without either of them, which would look very different and far less balanced. Nothing will be left to chance, or to last-minute scrambling. What lies between now and the World Cup will be experiments and adjustments, not wholesale change: pieces moved carefully into and out of place, with one eye on the destination and the other on not losing so often that the dressing room’s confidence cracks.

The search for a multi-utility cricketer has also raised Harshit Rana’s stock, a seamer who can bat with some freedom. It is why the team management tolerates his injury history and occasionally scattergun bowling. His 52 against New Zealand in Indore only strengthened that faith. If he can consistently touch 140kph, the management’s confidence in him will grow further. He could be the third name in India’s pace attack, now that Mohammed Shami’s return looks unlikely.

India’s spin combination is just as unsettled. It’s unlikely that Jadeja, Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav all make the flight to South Africa together. The next few months should offer clearer answers: whether India can mount a serious title challenge, whether an old flaw resurfaces to check their progress, and whether this grand old house can hold up in a South African storm.

Stay updated with the latest sports news across Cricket, Football, Chess, and more. Catch all the action with real-time live cricket score updates and in-depth coverage of ongoing matches.