Serious Thinking Needed for India After Series Defeat Against Australia
Today’s loss against Australia at Guwahati meant that a full-strength India lost a home series against a depleted Australian side with one match to go. It is too early with respect to the 2011 World Cup to hit the panic button, but make no mistake, this is a serious setback to India’s preparations. And the Indian management have to think deep and hard about the choices that they need to make.
Apologists for India’s performance would point to three close matches that could have gone either way and to Tendulkar’s brilliant century. They would also be right in suggesting that a weakened Australia still has considerable strength in its ranks and also that the experienced team members (Ponting, Hussey) were in good form.
This obscures the details. First, the close matches were bolstered by a rearguard performance from Harbhajan and Co. Tendulkar’s 175 stands alone in a batting scorecard that shows no significant support. India fielded its best lineup in both batting and bowling, and were bowled out for 170 and conceded 350.
There will be a few scapegoats to be sacrificed at the end of this series. Probably one or more of the bowlers will be axed, and perhaps we will see a new No. 6 or No. 7 in the team. But that is not solving the problems that we saw in this series.
The first problem is that the bowling, for the most part, has been toothless. Unable to pick wickets when needed and unable to control the acceleration. Australia crossed 250 four times in the first five one-dayers. This was emphasized clearly when India used 9 bowlers in the just-concluded match to try to force the Australians to make a mistake. Usually, that shows a captain trying hard, but today, it just showed desperation.
The batting has been better, but it has not come together as a unit. The contributions of the lower order has masked the poverty of the performances. It doesn’t look likely that India will change their top five, except if forced to by injury. So it is time for them to step up.
The one blessing of this series has been Dhoni finding his place at No. 5 and not floating around. That is a good spot for him in my opinion and if India can find some better team performances from the top order and get a couple of good allrounders for the next two spots, the batting should be India’s strength at the World Cup.
Opening has been a clear concern also and I just don’t understand the logic behind Tendulkar insisting to do the job when Sehwag-Gamhbir suit the team most.
You think Tendulkar will be around till 2011?
Purna, the World Cup starts in February 2011. That is only 15 months more. Tendulkar can surely last another 15 months if he takes care not to get injured. Also he will be just 37 at the time of the World Cup. Compare that with Jayasuriya.
Jayasuriya is stretching it I feel. It’s not like he has played any extraordinary innings as of late. of course Sachin is in another league. He might also last because he still loves the game I guess. But with this team, even having Sachin won’t ensure a world cup win. So should he really bother? I’m not saying he should retire. I’m just thinking what it must be like to be Sachin. To know that even with him around the team can’t put in a decent enough performance to win. He is bound to retire after 2011…which they might not win. So should he put himself through all that hard work for this?
It is difficult to know someone’s mind, but, like everyone else, I suppose Sachin really wants to end his career with a World Cup win. And he has been close with superb performances in 1996 and 2003. And he has this last chance to make it count. You are right – India might not win and they will not be able to give him a great farewell. And that would be cruel. I wish the current players realize that the greatest tribute that they can pay to the greatest Indian player is to support him in his last effort. Win it for him, just like the Pakistan team rallied around Imran Khan in 1992. Who will be India’s Inzamam, Miandad and Akram?
the problem becomes even more at your face when you know the chore of the team is going to be same in 2011… if playing together close to couple of years can not make them play as unit then we are seriously lacking something…
Straight Point, the unfortunate problem is that they have not been playing together because of the various injuries. I hope they can maintain a stable team going into the World Cup.
India seriously need to re-think their strategies. You cannot honestly say that India have strike bowlers. More often than not people give away their wickets against India through lack of concentration (i.e. Watson in the last match,Vogues in the match before). Look at Johnson and Lee, they are able to put batsmen under pressure through sheer accuracy and pace – India cannot do this. In a country that big, they mean to tell us that they cannot find a supremely fast bowler to even match the world’s fastest bowlers? India’s mentality needs changing also. They dont work to a plan and are not team orientated. Each “star” in the team have their own fan base and whether they win or lose, they will still be treated as a “star”. Batting wise, they arent the best out there. They should get 2 all rounders, i.e. Flintoff / Watson – they need a Dravid to stabalise the innings and they need a Gilchrist and Hayden that can play the power knocks.
Nice post Krishna.
Something’s just not right with the team composition. The bowling gives me nightmares. We’re lacking a prime-time spinner. To call Bhajji the main spinner in the team has become an old joke . Selection-wise : They either seem to blood the players too soon (eg. Jadeja ), or give them too much of a leverage (eg. Harbhajan) .
morethanjustagame.wordpress.com
Sanjay,
I really think India does not have other strike bowlers. You look at the IPL which has all the probables and hopefuls playing, and could you really pick a stand-out fast bowler who has not been tried before? Even the spinners like Ojha, Amit Mishra have had their chances but not upset Harbhajan.