India’s batting must step up in the World Cup

The first part of the long tour of Australia is done and dusted for the Indian team and it actually did not go as bad as it could have been or as it was hoped to be. Four-Neil was the predicted score line of the series, but, it happened to be two-Neil at the end. With a little bit of luck, it could have been 1-1 or even 2-0 in the favour of the visitors.

The Indians had to score about 150 in Adelaide to win the game with 8 wickets in hand, while, in Brisbane, they were leading by about 160 when Australia’s tail came in to bat. But, on both the occasions, they lost. In Brisbane, it was their fault in the sense that they over attacked the opposition tail-enders with the short balls. They probably got a bit emotional there, trying to give it back to Mitchell Johnson and all those sort of stuff. It backfired.

But, one thing that was proved during the test series that this new generation of Indian players, they have come to Australia with some steel and if they are to go down, they would go down fighting. The opposition teams, be it Australia or someone else, will have to earn their wins. These youngsters are not going to just get steamrolled, certainly not batting-wise.

Bowling is not India’s forte yes. It’s not that they just can’t bowl. They can of course. But, their bowling is not able to win them games to be frank. If the World Cup is to be defended by India successfully, a couple of their batsmen will have to score in excess of 500 runs in the tournament and the men in blue have got such sort of batsmen in their touring party who can be deadly lethal if the ball does not move that much.

Why are the Indian fast bowlers not bowling correct line?

The Border-Gavaskar series 2014-15 is over and the clear difference that was between the two teams i.e. India and Australia during the series was the quality of pace bowling. Yes, it can be said that the attack that Australia had was much more experienced that what India had, but, that can’t be used as an excuse to hide the failure of the Indian pace bowlers. The pitches have been flat yes, but, still on those same pitches, the Aussie quickies got wickets and that’s because they bowled a disciplined channel. They did not try too hard. They set the batsman up.

One of the keys to success on flat wickets for a paceman is to make sure that the batsmen don’t get the runs quickly and he has to earn it. You, as a bowler, must not give him any freebies. If you apply constant pressure, you don’t let the runs come freely, the batsmen would definitely try something different and that’s where your chance to get wickets as a bowler lies. That’s what the Aussies did and they were successful. Yes, they could not get 20 wickets either in Melbourne or Sydney, but, they could have done that with a bit of luck. On the other hand, India were miles behind. Forget getting 20 wickets, they did not even look like getting the opposition tail out which was a shame for a top international side.

It’s actually the domestic pitches of India which should be blamed for this. The pitches that these fast bowlers get to bowl on in India are so low and slow that they can’t afford to keep the deliveries outside the off stump. If they keep it there, then, because of the low bounce, the batsmen have the opportunity to play the square drive or even the cover drive for that matter.

So, the pace bowlers in domestic cricket in India have no option but to bowl with in the three stumps and they carry that tendency to international cricket too. When they go to places like England and Australia, where the conditions demand the ball to be kept in the 4^th or the 5^th stump channel, they are not able to do so. They bowl the middle-stump line and the batsmen pick easy runs. So, the BCCI must consider asking the curators to prepare a few bouncy pitches in India so that these bowlers get this habit of bowling the correct line.

Virat Kohli, the aggressive leader India required

Virat Kohli has slowly become a run machine now. Wherever India play in whichever conditions, the 26-year old scores hundreds. Well, you would obviously like to pick that England tour and say that he could not do much there. Yes, he certainly did not, but, that’s the only place where he failed. Barring that, he has just smashed bowlers in every series and one can be sure that when he goes back to England again in future, he would definitely do better.

He is such a quick learner, this young man who is obviously the captain as well now with that sudden MS Dhoni exit and his mindset is so positive. He just does not get himself believing that the opposition is dominating the game, even if that is actually the case. He does not mind sledging and he does not mind listening to the words coming from the opposition either. He takes it all on the chin. He plays cricket his own way. That’s the thing about Virat and that’s his nature. People often criticize him for that and say that such hot temper would take him nowhere, but, that’s how he is as a person.

You can beat Virat’s team. You can get him out cheaply. But, you can never demoralize him. He would always come back all guns blazing. He can never be down and out and that’s why the Indian fans have high hopes with him as captain. He would always get his team playing the positive way. Even if that means a couple of failures, a couple of defeats, he would take it. But, the team would walk on the right path under his leadership. He can become as great a captain as he is as a batsman if he gets good response from his teammates

Raina to play in Sydney, Dhawan might be dropped

With the Border-Gavaskar series having gone out of the hand now, the Indian team management might like to play a few fringe players in Sydney. The guys who are in contention are Suresh Raina, the middle order batsman who is considered ODI and T20 specialist, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, the bowling all rounder who has been injured recently and Varun Aaron, the fast bowler who had not played the last game because of a family tragedy.

KL Rahul, the Karnataka boy who had appeared in test match cricket for the first time in Melbourne and had got out playing shocking shots in both the innings, might also be retained as the Indian team management believes he is a good player and those shots that he went for there at the G was only because of the nervousness. If Rahul and Raina both play, it’s more than likely that Shikhar Dhawan would miss out and that might well be the end of the test career of the left handed opener.

Dhawan has repeatedly failed on overseas grounds, barring New Zealand. His technical issues don’t let him survive against the new ball. And, because of the fact that he gets out early almost all the time, India’s no. 3 gets to face the new ball which starts the collapse. So, getting rid of Dhawan is perhaps the right idea for the Indian team management.

It remains to be seen if Cheteshwar Pujara, who had batted at no. 6 in the second innings in Melbourne, gets back to his original no. 3 position or not. If Rahul opens, then, Pujara would surely have to bat one down as Raina is probably not good enough to bat in the top order in test matches and India would not like to change Ajinkya Rahane’s batting slot as he is doing so well there.

Oh Captain, you came in a flash, you went in a flash

In the final session of the Boxing Day test, India were trying to dig in deep as there was a game to be saved there. An ultra attacking field was set. Two slips, two gulley, silly point, backward point, short extra cover and forward short leg. Mitchell Johnson came firing in and bowled it short. Any other player, in that sort of situation, would have tried to get on top of that ball and defend it cautiously. But, not MS Dhoni. Guess what he did? Bang he went with the big mighty horizontal bat and the red cherry whistled past the short point fielder to the advertisement hoardings down there at the boundary line.

That’s what he was and that’s what we would always remember him for. The former Indian test captain who always approached the game differently. He knew attack was his best defence and playing the cut shot was the best way he could have survived that Mitchell Johnson delivery and so, he went for it. He never thought he could easily be held out by one of those fielders placed in almost a ring on the off side. If he had indeed been held out and India had gone on to lose the test, he would have been crucified by the critics. But, not for a single second did that thought cross his mind and that’s because he never played to prove a point to the critics. He always did what he thought was right for his team, his Indian team. The team which he took to the no. 1 rankings.

Dhoni is perhaps the only Indian captain in the recent times who has overseen the transition. He saw three generation of cricketers in his captaincy. He saw ups and downs. He saw the downward curve of those ageing greats of Indian Cricket and then, he saw the upward curve of some excitingly talented youngsters. He took everything in his stride. He always tried to make the team keep moving on. Of Course, if you are the captain for such a long period of time, the bad times would come somewhere down the road. You would lose games. Dhoni lost too. But, he never let either success or failure get to him. He remained the same in success as well as failure. The same calm, graceful Dhoni.

There have been Indian captains in the past who did not mind taking their shirts off in the players’ balcony and hurling a few abuses on the field occasionally. But, that was not Dhoni’s cup of team. He never let anyone in the team feel small and that itself was the sign of a great leader. Forget the numbers. Forget the World T20 win in South Africa. Forget the CB Series win in Australia. Forget the Asia Cup win in Sri Lanka. Forget the World Cup win in Wankhede. Forget the Champions Trophy win in England. Forget everything. Can we please remember Dhoni only for being the true gentleman of the game? Somebody who never associated himself with the limelight and stardom. He came in a flash, went in a flash.