World Cup: Can India maintain their aggression against Windies at WACA?

India appear to have broken a cardinal rule about sport in this World Cup.

Winning begets winning, goes the cliché. Losing does likewise. But India did not win a single official game in the two and a half months leading up to the World Cup. They lost five – two Tests and three ODIs. Then comfortably rolled over Pakistan, South Africa and the U.A.E in their first three games of the World Cup.

India could conceivably reach the quarter-finals as one of only two unbeaten sides in this tournament - New Zealand being the other. This was not supposed to happen.

But there is another rule of sport that might better apply to India: Teams (and individual athletes) need to learn how to win.

Growing pains are necessary before you can take on the world. There are exceptions, of course. But for every Rafael Nadal, who won his first French Open at 19, there is a Novak Djokovic and an Andy Murray.

It happens to the best teams. The West Indies grew into the force of nature they were in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s because of the battering they received by Australia’s terrible twosome of Jeff Thompson and Dennis Lillee in 1975/76. Australia emerged as the best cricket team in the world in the mid-1990s after a disheartening and soul-searching early period under Alan Border in the mid-to-late 1980s.

That’s not to say teams always move from losing to winning. Sport is far too complicated and nuanced for any principle to hold true in every situation. But given opportunity, encouragement and talent, the fires of losing can forge a tougher, tighter team that is bound by a desire to taste victory.

Much was made of the inexperience of this India team when they left their homeland in December of 2013 for South Africa. Much was made of their consistent losing in South Africa, New Zealand, England and Australia. But perhaps not enough was made of the signs of progress.

England aside, where India regressed after winning the second Test at Lord’s, the potential for this team to compete was on display in fits and starts. Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara made hundreds in the first Test against Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel. India had New Zealand on the ropes at 94 for 5 in the second Test, before running out of steam and giving Brendon McCullum the time and space to stage a remarkable rescue.

And even in England, Ajinkya Rahane, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and yes, Ishant Sharma, flew India’s flag before fading over the course of the first ever five-Test series anyone in the squad had played.

India came up short again in the four Test series in Australia, but Virat Kohli’s men, and they had become his men, showed they were willing to go toe-to-toe in the quest for victory. Had one or two more sessions gone their way, India could have well have ended the series with the scores even.

Ravi Shastri deserves an assist here. His philosophy of victory-or-broke contrasts with Dhoni’s process-is-everything approach. Put together, it may be a combination that suits the players, most of whom relish the high of winning more than Dhoni possibly does.

India’s fading performance in the Tri-series now looks like exhaustion and nothing more. As Dhoni, Shastri and the some of the players have mentioned, the rest did them a world of good. It allowed jaded minds the luxury of switching off in a fast-forward world and allowed them to focus on the World Cup without distractions. Shastri’s comments about the Tri-series being a waste of time tells you everything you need to know.

Perhaps the best current example of India’s growing confidence and ability to absorb information is Ashwin, who has changed his approach to bowling having spent three months Down Under.

The challenge now is for India to maintain their intensity. It is relatively easy to get up for World Cup games against Pakistan and South Africa. In fact, against Pakistan the trick was to avoid getting too amped up. UAE were never going to threaten India. Against the lesser lights of West Indies, Ireland and Zimbabwe, there will be temptation to relax, to ease off just that little bit because you believe you can and still win.

On the other hand, players such as Virat Kohli have no off switch, as his recent fracas with a journalist indicates. While that trait is not as admirable off the field, it could serve India well on it.

There are also two areas in which India, as good as they have been, could use some improvement. The opening pair of Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan are yet to produce a significant partnership. A return to form for Rohit would strengthen a top-order that has already delivered in spades.

And the end-overs batting could use a sprinkling of common sense. Against Pakistan and South Africa, the rush to gather as many runs as possible led to injudicious shots. Having wickets to burn is not reason enough to burn them.

But this too is part of learning how to play their best in Australia. India have already shown they can learn. Just how much they have learned is something we will discover over the rest of the tournament.