India aim to reframe unfamiliar pressure as privilege

India's nets session on Saturday was a beehive of activity, sprawled across the Eden Gardens. Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan and Tilak Varma took on pace in two adjacent nets, while Gautam Gambhir, Suryakumar Yadav and Morne Morkel huddled near the strip closest to the match pitch, pulling out measuring tapes and tiny cones to discuss lengths.

Axar Patel, Washington Sundar and Kuldeep Yadav were also around, sweating it out in a two-hour session. All of this should be standard and not come as a surprise, except that it was an optional session and had more attendees than usual at these digs.

India typically hold their most intense practice two days before a game, with the eve kept light and optional. But the tight turnaround after the Zimbabwe match in Chennai meant Friday was spent in transit. Saturday evening became their first chance to get bat on ball and take a first look at the pitch.

Sunday presents a curious entry in this white-ball juggernaut's calendar. By the time India take the field, three semifinalists will already be confirmed, their venues locked in. That India might not be among them would have seemed almost unthinkable before the tournament began.

Yet they now find themselves in a fight to stay alive. India rarely play knockouts before the knockouts, especially in tournaments they are expected to reach the very end of. The pressure of such a situation must feel unfamiliar, and even odd to an extent.

"Yeah, I don't think you ever want to mask pressure. I think you want to go towards pressure. And that's been the message throughout, not just the World Cup, but certainly all the bilateral series," India's assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate said.

"All our preparation has been about going towards the pressure when it comes and I think more than masking it you want to reframe it. We're continually telling the guys what a privilege it is to play for your country, what a privilege it is to walk out of Eden Gardens and play a match to stay in the tournament," he added.

Since the last T20 World Cup, India have won eight bilateral series, four at home and four away, without having to contest it in the last fixture. They were unbeaten in last year's Asia Cup as well, a reminder that they understand the weight knockout cricket carries. Yet their World Cup campaign took a sharp turn after the defeat to South Africa. They made the fairly long journey from Ahmedabad to Chennai on February 23, with the knowledge that they couldn't afford anymore slip-ups.

"The team is very well prepared. These are professionals who live for these moments. It was a quick turnaround from the disappointment of South Africa [loss]. I thought the guys regrouped really well in the preparation in Chennai for those couple of days and we've had a nice day off yesterday, a travel day, and you'll see nearly everyone's here today for the optional session.

"We've just been through our plans in the team meeting and just a little bit of fine-tuning now just to get used to the surface, have a look around and make sure we focus on ourselves and put our best foot forward tomorrow in a crucial game," ten Doeschate offered.

West Indies bring a familiar World Cup pattern, even without India's weight of expectation. Impressive against most sides, but decisively halted by South Africa. Despite that, they are a side brimming with six-hitting prowess. They've tonked 66 of them in this World Cup - the most, and bat incredibly deep. Ten Doeschate reckoned wickets will be the currency against a side like this.

"I don't think there's many lineups that can boast of Romario Shepherd walking in at number nine. But I think that's also a feature of all the teams in the tournament now, certainly the teams that have done well, England bat really deep, New Zealand bat really deep, India bat really deep. We have the luxury of someone like Axar, if he doesn't come in early, coming in at eight," ten Doeschate opined.

"So you have to focus on taking wickets. I think that old-school way of just containing in T20 cricket has gone out. We feel West Indies play a risk-reward game of high proportion in both aspects of that. And as a bowling unit, we're looking forward to that challenge. We know there's kinks there, where we can get wickets."

An early look at the surface has suggested to both teams that it could be dry and high-scoring. That should suit two sides more comfortable on true pitches than on surfaces where the ball grips and holds. India, though, may look to borrow South Africa's template of squeezing West Indies' expansive batting unit and forcing them into errors.

"Our plan tomorrow will be to attack the whole 20 overs and peg them back in that way, much like South Africa did. It is certainly going to be a challenge. The surface looks pretty good, so it could be a high-scoring game. As well as throwing punches with the ball, we're going to have to make sure that we're brave with the bat as well and maintain a high strike rate and high intent throughout the innings as well. We'll fight fire with fire."