World Cup 2023: Powerplay domination, the secret behind India's success

India have been the best side of the 2023 Cricket World Cup by a long way. With eight victories out of eight matches, India have cantered into the semi-final with an unbeaten record. Apart from the mind-boggling 100 per cent win record, India’s bowling has emerged as the biggest strength of the side.

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Traditionally known for their batting prowess, the Men in Blue have done well with the bat in most of the matches with captain Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli being in top form, but the way bowlers have finished the game, by dismissing teams on scores like 55 and 83, is beyond belief.

Three of the top four lowest scores in the 2023 World Cup have come against India with the lowest being 55 (Sri Lanka). 55 is also the lowest for an ICC Full Member nation in an ODI World Cup.

The secret to India bowling out opposition teams in quick succession is their domination in the first 10 overs. South Africa have taken the most wickets in powerplay (19) in the 2023 World Cup so far but their stats in other departments are inferior to India.

Team India has 18 wickets in powerplay at an average of 18.11 from 480 balls. 347 out of 480 balls have led to 0 runs resulting in a run rate of just 4.07.

South Africa’s 19 wickets have come at an average of 25.15 and have leaked runs at a rate of 5.97. They have bowled 309 dot balls.

Also, Marco Jansen has taken the majority of the powerplay wickets (12) for the Proteas, while for India it has been a team effort. Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj have taken six wickets each, while Japrit Bumrah has five to his name in powerplay overs.

India batters have also been the best among the rest in powerplay.

Rohit with 265 runs leads the chart of batters with the most runs in the powerplay. He has scored at a strike rate of 130.54 and averages 88.33 after eight innings.

As a team also India are leading the race with 512 runs, the second best is Australia with 471 runs. Overall as a team, India have a strike rate of 100.83 and an average of 56.88.

It’s surprising but a welcome change. India for long had been a team known for playing cautious cricket at the start but under coach Rahul Dravid and Rohit, the Men in Blue are a different beast now and that would be the deciding factor if they go on to win the World Cup.