When the schedule for Asia Cup was drawn, it clearly looked like the Indian squad would be stretched in every possible way.
Finally when India did play twice in two days, the strains were clearly visible from the hard work under the unforgiving Dubai sun. The weather is so unforgiving, you may be forced to agree with Bangladesh’s ODI captain Mashrafe Mortaza when he says that even a mad man will realise that the scheduling is flawed.
But India had to move beyond being critical of the schedule because technically it is the BCCI which is the host of this Asia Cup. However, you could not help but think that the Indian XI which played Hong Kong in the first game was decidedly rusty. Not because they had suffered from the trauma of the losses in England, because this is a separate squad from the one that played in the Test, but because a lot of players appeared to be coming in cold.
Bhuvi Needs Time
In particular, someone like Bhuvneshwar Kumar appeared short of a gallop against Hong Kong, but quickly pulled things back against Pakistan with a match-winning spell. The ever-improving Jasprit Bumrah is another bowler who quickly struck rhythm against Pakistan. For a very long time, Bumrah carried the pressure of his indiscretion with the ball when he overstepped against Pakistan in the final of the ICC Champions Trophy. That clearly helped Pakistan recover then with Fakhar Zaman going on to strike a match-winning hundred. But almost a year later, Bumrah is much more secure and appears to trust his abilities, but his no-ball problems still persist.
Change Necessitated
It was that loss in the Champions Trophy final which led to a few changes in ODI strategy for India. That effectively ended the limited-overs careers of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. The sudden promotion of wrist spinners like Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav was necessitated by the flat middle overs that India used to present to their rivals. Now you can see the difference that the ‘KulCha’ pairing are able to offer to the opposing batsmen. Both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli use them smartly. Sharma appeared a bit passive in the game against Hong Kong, but seemed more assured against Pakistan.
The flip side of over exposing the Kuldeep and Chahal combination is to be ready for reverses like in England during the ODI series. Both the spinners were tackled well by the English batsmen resulting in India’s ODI series loss on the recently concluded tour.
India needs to be a bit more smart in dealing with their trump cards. By the time the World Cup comes along, every squad would have spent time analysing this strategy of India. World Cups are usually won by some quirk or something unique employed by teams.
Hopefully, India has held back a joker in the pack in time for the World Cup, because technically the time to crib or prepare for the World Cup has long gone.
Need Alternatives to Pandya
The injury to Hardik Pandya is a blessing in disguise in many ways. For a lot of unexplained reasons, Pandya is considered vital each time India takes the field in any format. But it is foolhardy to place the seam bowling all-rounder eggs in one basket. The lack of an alternative to Pandya is a telling factor and an indication of a lack of faith in some of the other claimants to the role. Kumar is clearly waiting to cash in on Pandya’s role. He could well prove to be a crucial weapon for Sharma now and Kohli later.
Solidify the Plan
The planning for the 2019 World Cup should have started with the loss in the 2015 World Cup semi-final. But we wasted two crucial years in identifying the concerned players. That is now going to come to haunt us.
The best phase for India’s ODI cricket in recent years has been between 2002 to 2004 and from 2008-2011. There appeared to be a will to accept, adopt and move on. Especially in the phase between 2008-2011, India wanted to blood as many younger players as possible, so as to help them gain enough experience before the World Cup.
Dhoni the Player or Captain?
Today there appears to be no such plan. We have wasted two years in persisting with a captain like MS Dhoni who clearly had made up his mind of going to the 2019 edition just as a player. Dhoni’s diminishing returns is now also a factor. Despite the fact that it is certain Dhoni will play the 2019 World Cup, the age is not going to be a factor against the former skipper, it should be his form.
We have missed out in the last three years in identifying who is Dhoni’s back-up. There appears to be a complete blind spot when it comes to choosing the wicket-keeper with the white ball. The time has perhaps come for the selectors to identify the talent/veteran who will take over Dhoni in the white ball squad. Similarly there could well be a case for a Jadeja to return in place of a Axar Patel.
Fast Bowling Options
In terms of quick bowling, the performance of a Khaleel Ahmed should give a lot hope for the players from smaller towns. Khaleel is one of many bowlers who have been tried out in the shorter formats thus far. Siddharth Kaul, Deepak Chahar are the other seam bowlers who have been tried out on the recent England tour. Mumbai’s Shardul Thakur has spent a lot of time bracing himself to be part of the action. The lack of cricket has come to haunt Thakur, because each time he bowls nowadays, you can clearly see that he lacks match practice. Now India need to persist with this crop at least till the limited-overs tour of New Zealand in January 2018.
Overall the core of the squad is more or less ready, but it is time for us to divorce ourselves from the results in the UAE from the final destination, the World Cup.
So we must stop gloating over Kedar Jadhav’s freak three-wicket spell. Jadhav does not in any way add to our plans for the 2019 World Cup. His spin or darts if you will, can hardly trouble batsmen on the true English tracks. We need some pace bowling all-rounders and not one from the Jadhav tribe of batsmen chipping in with the ball.
The time to act is now, else we can keep barking down the wrong tree.
(Chandresh Narayanan is former cricket writer with The Times of India, The Indian Express, ex-Media Officer for ICC and current media manager of Delhi Daredevils. He is also the author of World Cup Heroes, Cricket Editorial consultant, professor and cricket TV commentator.)
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