When the Indian team was on another two-day break after beating Afghanistan, among the things that might have made the getaway more enjoyable was confidence. It takes some doing to have the last laugh on a day when a few key things go wrong. Hard-earned wins are like that. It tells that if you can do this when things don’t go right, on your day you can be the team to beat.

It was sometime back but still worth a mention. Afghan captain Gulbadin Naib was reminded repeatedly after the match how close his team was to pulling off the biggest heist in recent ODI history; badgered with questions what went wrong; implored almost to admit that the loss must have been heart-breaking. At the end of every answer, he said: “Credit goes to Indian bowlers”.

Naib wasn’t most articulate in his explanation because of handicaps in speaking a language he isn’t very comfortable in, but there were reasons which prompted him to go back to that line. In a World Cup expected to be dominated by batsmen, 224/8 was the lowest total defended.

Despite taking just two wickets in 25 overs, India’s bowlers were always in the match. There were 11 dots in the last 29 deliveries, a slew of bouncers among them. Add fuller ones slipped in as surprise which culminated in a Mohammed Shami hat-trick and what you get is as smart a bowling performance as a captain can hope for, the minnow stature of the opposition notwithstanding, because of the low target.

Having come to the competition with the reputation of being the best bowling unit India has produced, at least in the 50-over format, this combination of pace with variations and unorthodox spin put up a display that will make opponents wary when the business end approaches.

In India, there is a tendency to go overboard with every bit of success without putting things in perspective, but there is genuine promise in the attack the team has carried to England this time. Jasprit Bumrah is the headline grabber, but not the only one making this unit India’s strength.

Not always obvious from outside, there is some going into this. It isn’t just rolling arms over. “We didn’t bowl fuller length because the ball was coming on to the bat quite well in the second half. We knew they would be circumspect against short balls. Our gameplan was simple. Bowl bouncers from varying lengths,” said Shami after the match.

This explains why the umpires didn’t call ‘no’ after signalling ‘one for the over’. ‘Bouncers from varying lengths’ effectively meant it was short, not above the shoulder.

Another reason why this attack stands out is temperament. They are playing the waiting game. It’s not just batsmen who have to have this trait. Bowlers also have to wait for things to happen. It’s important to know that efforts will not always fetch dividends, but if one keeps at it, chances are good that they will yield results. It says a few things about the mental make-up of this bowling unit.

Yuzvendra Chahal got two wickets and Kuldeep Yadav none in the last game. Neither drifted from the plan of focusing on pitching it right, irrespective of the outcome, even if it meant going through long and unsuccessful phases.

“There is pressure when you are defending a total less than 250. Errors have to be minimised. You have to get in as many dot balls in the first 35 overs so that the asking rate is high in the end. That will force the team chasing into big shots,” said Chahal. “It was crucial to get this dot balls part right before we play the bigger teams. Defending less than 250 will definitely give us confidence.”

There is still a vital ‘if’ remaining and that is the performance of the batting unit. If that box is ticked in crunch games, there is pace, guile and creativity in this band of bowlers to send shivers down the spine of opponents stronger than Afghanistan. It’s up to the other contenders to devise a strategy to counter this.