India’s foul-weather insurance policy

There is no mistaking that India was on the edge of a precipice on Saturday night. It required an extraordinary partnership and a slice of good fortune — Hamilton Masakadza’s drop catch was disturbingly poor — to deliver a sixth consecutive victory in this World Cup.

History may not accord that fifth-wicket stand between M.S. Dhoni and Suresh Raina legendary status — it was after all Zimbabwe, a side ranked only above Afghanistan and Ireland in ODI cricket — but those runs did not come easy. That duet of 196 runs will have brought enormous relief to the team, and a great deal of happiness to the two performers.

Dhoni and Raina, it seems, enjoy each other’s company a good deal. They now have scored 3,480 runs as a combination, at an average bettered only by Hashim Amla and A.B. de Villiers (cut-off of 2000 runs). No pair above them in the all-time list has batted as low: openers predictably dominate that space, with a smattering of one-drop batsmen and the odd individual like Arjuna Ranatunga.

Dhoni and Raina have given India’s batting a second, powerful engine (pressed into service, it must be noted, only after the first breaks down). They can have a dispiriting effect on bowling sides — one mountain painstakingly scaled only to be met by the sight of another.