India are the hosts of the Cricket World Cup, but few could have imagined they would dominate the open pool tournament as much as they have.
It is telling that a flawed South African team have been the closest to matching the performance level of India, and they came up well short in the head-to-head battle.
India is on the brink of storming to the most dominant Cricket World Cup triumph in the event’s history.
Now the cynics among the India fans, and there are many, will warn that a single loss in the knockouts could send the whole house of cards tumbling down.
Pressure does do strange things to cricketers, but this India side has been firing on all cylinders from the word go, and they simply don’t appear to be beatable.
Rohit Sharma has been the banker up top for India and keeps delivering runs, with Virat Kohli often taking over from him and driving the blue wave home. Kohli has incredibly been criticised for allegedly being focused on equalling and breaking Sachin Tendulkar’s tally of 50 ODI hundreds for India.
India have made the most of the moving ball in those short intervals and seem to just have an instinct for how to destroy teams whether it is through pace or spin.
Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Shami have been in sublime form and just keep getting wickets early on in particular.
Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja have also struck time and again at the crucial moments, and India have mastered keeping their opponents under relentless pressure.
India will face New Zealand in the last four in a match at the Wankhede Stadium. India beat the Black Caps with two overs to spare in their first meeting, but it was one of their closer triumphs.
If they reach the final, it will be a clash between the hosts and either Australia or South Africa, who have their own World Cup stories that they want to tell.
This India side isn’t just very good. They are also extremely resilient, and you can expect them to bounce back if they are put under pressure in the knockout phase.
After the way they have started the World Cup story, it would be unthinkable if India were not able to round it off by lifting the trophy.
The other three semi-finalists will just be out to shoot their shots and hope for the best, knowing that India probably already have their name on the Cricket World Cup.
