- Former India cricketer Aakash Chopra lists out just what all has not worked out for India during this current tour of Australia.
- To summarise the bowling failures he writes, “there isn’t enough class in this bowling unit.”
- Unfortunately, Indian fielding’s worst hour has also come at a time when the bowling is struggling badly, he adds.
- Pointing out the selection errors, Chopra says Suresh Raina’s absence is being sorely felt
A three-wicket defeat to Australia in Melbourne and India lost their fourth consecutive series under Dhoni, on Sunday.
The last series that India won under his captaincy was at home against a weak West Indian team in 2014. There was a time when Dhoni couldn’t put a foot wrong but now, whatever he does, backfires.
Let’s try and examine what has gone wrong in Australia before delving deeper into the issue.
Weak Bowling
Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin made up India’s bowling unit during the Champions Trophy winning campaign in 2013.
Replace Shami with Ishant and you would get India’s bowling unit during the World Cup in which India reached the semifinals. So, how did the bowling unit that performed reasonably well in the past become so pedestrian? Well, the pitches in England were unusually dry and hence assisted Indian bowlers, and the pitches in the World Cup were also a little tired because the tournament was held at the backend of a long Australian summer.
By now, it’s quite evident that Indian bowlers need some assistance from the surface to restrict a decent batting line-up, and the pitches prepared for this ODI series are anything but bowling-friendly. Flat pitches dictate the bowlers to do something spectacular in the air (be it the extra pace-swing for faster men or drift-dip for spinners) and, unfortunately, there isn’t enough class in this bowling unit.
Faltering Batting
While it’s indeed fair to blame the bowling unit for their inability to defend 300+ scores, it’ll be foolish to ignore where the batting faltered too.
If your strength is batting and you’re playing on batting-beauties, there are only two ways to win—1. Bowl first and chase a slightly above-par score, or 2. Bat first and score 25-30 runs above par, for your bowlers would need the scoreboard pressure as an extra bowler.
Dhoni won two tosses but elected to bat first on both occasions and while 308 and 309 were big scores, they weren’t 25-30 runs above par. Indian bowling isn’t equipped to defend par scores on good pitches and it showed. In the third ODI in Melbourne, India did score 15 above par and therefore, for the first time in the series India came close to winning.
It seems that Indian batting hasn’t gotten used to the absence of a batting power-play, for they aren’t accelerating enough between the 31-40th over. Thus far, India has scored 67, 67 and 60 in this period and that’s unacceptable if you’ve gone at around 5 runs-per-over for the first 30 overs and have 8-9 wickets in hand. Indian batsmen must address this issue, for they’re leaving too much to do in the last ten overs.
Fielding Horrors
If you have a weak bowling attack and your batsmen haven’t scored 25-30 above par, your fielding unit must contribute heavily. Unfortunately, Indian fielding’s worst hour has also come at a time when the bowling is struggling badly.
In the first three matches, India has missed at least 6-7 catches and almost that many opportunities to run the Australian batsmen out. It’s not that this Indian team is full of liabilities on the field, for most of them are as good as you’d get at this level. While it’s a minor blip, it has played a pivotal role in India’s fortune.
Selection Gaffes
Last but not the least, the team selection in the matches so far hasn’t given enough maneuverability with regards to the personnel.
Suresh Raina’s absence is sorely felt because he’s not just a good finisher and a great fielder but also, could be a handy sixth bowling option. Dhoni was forced to play both Mann and Dhawan the moment he decided to drop Ashwin.
Also, the lack of batting resources (India picked only 5 proper batsmen in the squad) has also meant that Dhawan can’t be dropped in spite of his obvious lack of form.
Now that India has already lost the series, it would be worth trying out different things. There’s a strong case to try either Rahane or Pandey as an opener in place of Shikhar and also give Akshar Patel an opportunity in the remaining two games.