Time to wake up

An ODI series defeat to Pakistan has sparked partial corrective measures.

Yahoo! Cricket – Mon 7 Jan, 2013 2:56 PM IST

Lines of Fate: Virender Sehwag is out of the ODI scheme of things.All teams go through phases of regeneration, and repair is usually preceded by the acceptance that something has started to go wrong. But denial rather than acceptance (not just by the official corridor) has been the order of the day. Consider this. India’s abounding television fraternity came up with a wishful campaign ahead of the England Test series that posited MS Dhoni’s team as runaway victors. The campaign was hastily withdrawn when it was realized that far from calling the shots, India were on the run, desperately seeking to avoid defeat. The wildly-anticipated tussle with Pakistan was heralded by more playacting: grim-looking Indian players mouthing yet more jingoistic spiel. ‘Let them come’ mumbled Dhoni and Virat Kohli, arms crossed purposefully, looking even more comical and frigid in the light of recent results.

Pakistan came, but they less arrived than stomped through. After the two-match Twenty20 series was split, their brazen superiority became obvious in the ODIs. On an overcast morning in Chennai, Junaid Khan and Mohammad Irfan immolated India’s paper tigers, blowing away cinder by dark cinder reputations already in distress. A whitewash was avoided at the Kotla as a Pakistan of yore emerged ominously through a batting collapse, but the series was already won, and all through it India had had no answers to what is, despite the loss of two match-winning bowlers to spot fixing, the most eclectic attack in the world.

It has been a season of serious discontent for Indian cricket; an all-round performance of the unwanted kind which involved a system by system shutdown of capacities. The recent ODIs provided more proof of a deteriorating batting line up surviving on reputation alone, and the selectors finally awoke to the environment by dropping Virender Sehwag for Cheteshwar Pujara for the first three England ODIs. Sehwag's equally sketchy opening partner has managed to hang on. Gautam Gambhir has the numbers to back him - two centuries and as many fifties in the last 11 ODIs - but only once in that period has his strike rate crossed 100. In Tests, he has gone 46 innings without a hundred. and his tendency to cast his line outside off has inspired as much confidence as a safety pin in a nuclear war. Rohit Sharma too has been exceptionally mediocre with scores of 0, 0, 4, 4 and 4 in his last five ODIs.

Rule changes

The recent rule changes fit nicely in with Pakistan's plans. With a new ball used from either end, it wasn’t until at least the 25th over that the shine wore off. And the two bouncers now allowed every six balls enabled their left-arm opening fast bowlers to terrorize the top order. Irfan was delivering from a height of near nine feet while Junaid was devastating with late swing. Aside from Dhoni, the Indians were peppered with the throat-lungers, an old vulnerability that cost them dear yet again. The options at Pakistan’s disposal made for a glaring contrast with the self-inflicted famine raging in India’s bowling department. Despite the presence of four fit and decent seamers, India struggled with part-timers as a fifth bowler - a tactic that may well have cost them the series.  Although Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Ashok Dinda and later Shami Ahmed bowled splendidly, none of them was in the league of Pakistan's five outright wicket-takers, one of whom they could afford to hold back until the halfway mark of the innings. Umar Gul took over as first-change. Mohammad Hafeez followed up with his miserly off-spin, leaving the trump card Saeed Ajmal to come on only in the later stages. With Shoaib Malik not doing too badly, there was no respite at any stage when India batted.

Collective failure

In the last 18 months India's ODI performance has been directly proportional to Virat Kohli’s form, and  both have markedly tapered off. Yuvraj Singh has appeared intent on the momentary dazzle, fizzling out when it mattered; and Suresh Raina has refused to build on decent starts. Rohit Sharma has had a misrable run and has still been retained for the England ODIs. Only Dhoni – warts, technical shortcomings and all - has shown any inclination of spending time in the middle. It is surprising then that the captain came under so much fire despite being the most consistent scorer, apart from performing behind the wicket and leading the team - however poorly. Dhoni infact was declared Man of the Match in the last ODI for his captaincy, as India defended 167 on a freezing Kotla evening.

Looking ahead

If at all he received any support it was from R. Ashwin. The Chennai off-spinner was dropped for a Twenty20 game, but made up for his loss of bowling mojo by offering a straight bat to the ball in the ODIs, often looking the most correct batsman in the side. He came above Ravindra Jadeja in the last ODI, and departed for a golden duck - such has been India's lot this season. In a year that includes a crucial home Test series versus Michael Clarke’s Australia, India would do well to identify well in advance the men for the job.  They have a five-ODI contest coming up against England to aid their judgment. England return to the sub-continent following a well-earned Christmas break. Skipper Alastair Cook has said he expects ‘special’ things from his team after they were subjected to a 0-5 pasting when they toured here last for ODIs. If they need any more inspiration, Pakistan just provided them with it. Here's awaiting another flag-waving television campaign and its hasty withdrawal!

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