Canberra: Indians grounded.

The indians won’t know what had hit them, would they? 194/5 off 29 overs was a big score though not the batted-out-of-the-game score. But to bowl out OZ for 169 on one day and to lose this game by eight wickets, sure the Indians would be confused.

That’s because Indians made many omission and commission of errors both before and after the start of the game.

Before start.
(i) While 125-all-out srilankan team chose to drop a batsman and come with five bowlers, India went in with 8 batsmen (including pathan). While India did well to bowl out OZ for paltry 169 at MCG, but a fifth bowlers there would have atleast maintained pressure and score points over OZ batting order if not bowled them out for even more paltry score. You got to learn from your victories as well. Dhoni and his team did not do that and it was no surprise they looked the dumbest thing on Canberra.

(ii) The 169 run chase at MCG looked difficult because Gambhir and rohit sharma found it difficult to score runs once the shine is off the ball. Ideally gambhir, who had some excellent strike-rate innings at top of the order in 20-20 format, should have to bat there. Instead the Indians have made out a grafter out of him by playing in No3.

After start.
(i) It was 29 overs game, a bit more than a 20-20 game but very less than a 50 over game. Gambhir and rohit again was at wrong place; grafted and the projected score kept falling.

(ii) The target for srilanka was 154 off 21 overs. My god, it was 20-20 chase and look what Dhoni came up with? Three slips and only 2 on onside! Sure you need to attack and take wickets in any form of cricket. But an attack that leaks runs in plenty would recede to defence at the same pace. The Indians lost to pre-meditated back foot play by lankans. Indian bowlers need a lot to learn from this match.

Summing up, The Indians lost not because of lack of skills but because of (lack of) understanding of game and refusal to learn from matches. Honestly, I am tempted to think that Indians have been fortunate not to have seen shown dumber on more occasions in the series. Indian media and fans sure played more than a big hand in that.

India ODI team: dawn of new era!

The gabba ODI against srilanka was fantastic rearguard recovery by Team India. From 83/4 in 20.5 overs to final score 267/4, Gambhir and dhoni showed excellent understanding of game. They ran their singles, twos and threes, played low risk lofted drives and never let team India lagging on run rate. Those are the key factors:-
#1 They did not desist from taking risks, but the risks were low.
#2 They kept score board moving and never had their team lag in run-rate.
This is probably dawn of golden era where all players play for progressive team totals; unless it is stunned by selectors bringing in spent forces (ganguly, dravid & laxman).

Whats heartening is the fact that team India still has room for improvement.

1. Shewag may be an explosive batsman, but he does not have pull shots; or atleast not against quick bowlers. In power plays, pull shots are high value yielding shots (that’s why the first defensive move a fielding captain does is to send square leg fielder to fence and bring in fine leg). Ideally, batsmen with good and natural pull shots should be at top of the order. India has sachin, gambhir and rohit at top order who have good pull shots. So my 1-3 would be sachin, gambhir and rohit. This move achieves two good things for India. (i) shewag who is somewhat disadvantaged at top of the order (lack of pull shots) is not sacrificed (also that he is probably best attacking batsman of slow and medium bowling). (ii) It allows team india to exploit power plays to a maximum with minimum risk.

2. The other room for improvement is bowling. By fielding 4 bowlers, india’s bowling is quite precariously placed. If opponent team does not lose early wicket and puts up a brisk score, then they would just have to milk from there with spinner and part time spinners with spread fields. My five bowlers now would be Sreesanth, Ishant, Irfan, Praveen and Harbhajan.

So my 11 (with batting order) would be
1. sachin
2. gambhir
3. rohit sharma
4. v shewag
5. yuvraj
6. dhoni
7. irfan
8. Praveen
9. harbhajan
10. sreesanth
11. ishant sharma

Unfortunately, uttappa is left out. But that’s the wealth in this team; even with ganguly and dravid out of team, a talented player like uttappa cannot make it to 11. With uttappa sitting out, now even sachin can feel the heat.

Lastly, Rohit sharma was extra-ordinary in terms of talent, poise and time available to play strokes against gabba ODI against aussies. Though he could score only 29, hee not only looked like belonging there, but he showed promises of high class batsmanship. It really is dawn of an era!