Team India eyeing knockout stages, but Shreyas Iyer's short-ball woes remain a concern

With a six-point lead, Team India is already eyeing the knockout stages. Only a minor shift in their ranking in the top four could come from the results of their remaining games against South Africa, Sri Lanka, and the Netherlands.

A few Indian players toiled away at the Wankhede on Tuesday afternoon in the sweltering heat, thinking about their opponents in the next round. Workers were busy putting the final touches on the Sachin Tendulkar statue up in the stands, which will be inaugurated on Wednesday.

It was imperative that India addressed the short-pitched stuff because they were aware that they might face South Africa or Australia in the semifinals. In addition to the net bowlers, the throw-down experts gave Shreyas Iyers and KL Rahuls a real chance.

There are only three teams that have won the World Cup without losing: the West Indies (1975, 5 matches; 1979, 4 matches), Sri Lanka (1996, 6 matches), and Australia (2003, 11 matches; 2007, 11 matches). India has a great opportunity to join these select few teams.

Due to his incapacity to avoid being hit by deliveries at the back of the length, Shreyas has been under fire and was even victimized by them in their most recent game in Lucknow against England. Shreyas, the team's #4 hitter, has struggled to find his swing, which has put pressure on the later-order hitters.

South Africa plays India at Eden Gardens on Sunday, and India plays Sri Lanka in Mumbai on Thursday. The fact that both of the previous games at the Wankhede saw teams bat first score more than 380 runs is a good indicator of the quality of the wicket.

The test against South Africa might be more important, and Rahul Dravid, the head coach, appeared committed to fixing the problems.

To the chagrin of the batters, their pace trio of Lungi Ngidi, Marco Jansen, and Kagiso Rabada can take advantage of the bounce on the Eden turf.

Even though there have been suggestions to replace Shreyas with Suryakumar Yadav or Ishan Kishan, the team management has great faith in Shreyas.

Perhaps because Hardik Pandya hasn't been available, Shreyas has maintained his spot, but when the all-rounder gets back, things might be different.

The main reason why the poor technique of the remaining batters has gone unnoticed is because Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have combined to score 752 runs out of the 1430 that have been posted in the six matches.

Surya at No. 6 might be the answer, but it's unclear if the think tank would accept such a pairing. At the nets, a determined effort was made to get Shreyas to handle the short deliveries with assurance and clarity. Along with offering some throw-downs, Dravid also offered advice on how to position his body and bat.

Teams like Australia and South Africa will never stop trying to capitalize on his utterly foolish act. Shreyas persisted in trying the pull shot even though it was never able to pass the hypothetical field placements.

While battling the shorter ball, Rahul, Ishan, and Surya also spat out hits over the infield and scoops behind the wicket.

"Losing three wickets in the first Powerplay isn't the ideal situation; we weren't great with the bat," Rohit had warned following the England match in Lucknow. "The next step is to establish a long-term partnership, which we did. Then, though, we simply lost wickets."

In the next games, will the team management take risks? As was clear during practice on Tuesday, Shreyas will get his opportunity in the next two games, but what if he doesn't succeed?

Although his technique will be closely watched, will Dravid and Rohit insist on starting Shreyas in the starting lineup come the knockout stages?

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Will Rohit be able to ignore the "outside noise" even if Shreyas fails? Rohit maintains that the team always blocks it out.