The defining symbol of Ahmedabad is the charkha, the spinning wheel Mahatma Gandhi used, preserved in the Sabarmati Ashram, a 20-minute drive from Narendra Modi Stadium. A bomb clearly is not, but the simile sprung in the context of India’s yet-to-fully-explode top-order. “The Indian batting bomb has not exploded?” The bomb reference bemused India’s captain Suryakumar Yadav, who seamlessly regathered his wit and charm, and replied: “We have put 190 and 200 on the board.” But the question and imagery (apt in the context, for all its insensitivity) summed up India’s World Cup defence thus far. They have not been at their explosive best. It has creaked and squeaked; that they have not yet stumbled in the tournament is a triumph of their jaw-dropping depth and deception, and not the utter mastery they have wielded over the adversaries. India could be just a match away from the near-perfect game; equally, they could be a stutter away from a costly defeat in an intricately tight group. A slip could land them in the gorge of despair. …