Dhoni cannot fool around with batting line up

Ultimately, a game of cricket is won or lost on the basis of confidence, and India’s confidence must have taken a battering with the defeat to South Africa in Nagpur on Saturday. A defeat in its own right would not have been so upsetting — after all, South Africa is one of the best teams in the world. But it was the manner in which India shot themselves in the foot that ought to be deflating.

I believe that there were three reasons why India’s brilliant start was allowed to fritter away.

The first was the manner in which Sachin Tendulkar and Gautam Gambhir both got out at the start of the batting powerplay, allowing the best and most balanced attack in the world to come back into the match after being hammered. The innings had slowed down after Virender Sehwag’s dismissal and the onus was on Sachin and Gautam to lift it again, but instead the innings just went into a downward spiral.

Secondly, I believe India underestimated South Africa’s attack, probably because the going had been so easy for the first 35- odd overs. The changes Dhoni made in the batting order, sending Yusuf Pathan ahead of the inform Yuvraj Singh, put pressure on the team. A decent dose of Yuvraj or even Virat Kohli with just two wickets down would have put India in an impregnable position.

Thirdly, the sheer numbers — losing nine for 29 in just under 10 overs — gave the advantage to South Africa, because their confidence was back.

I have repeatedly said that 300 is not a safe score in this World Cup, especially for the big teams, and India just didn’t seem to learn from the mistakes that allowed England to tie the match in Bangalore last month. We need to realise that our strength is batting and we have to bat the opposition out of the game, which means scoring 350 each time.

I say this because, let’s face it, at the international level, India only have two good bowlers in Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh; the rest can just about pass off as international bowlers. This is why it would be foolhardy to blame Ashish Nehra for the last over, because in this day and age, if a team has 13 to get in six balls, it is the favourite to win.

Instead, I think the time has come for India to stop experimenting. They need to realise that this is a World Cup — the pinnacle in this format of the game — not a bilateral one- day series where you can take risks with your composition and tinker around. I sincerely hope Dhoni does not fool around with the batting order again.

With just one group match to go, it is about time that the role of each batsman is decided. Take the example of Virat Kohli — he scored 100 in less than 90 balls against Bangladesh but has been tossed around the order.

They are professionals, but it really affects the morale of a stroke- playing batsman if you send out the message that he is not good enough to accelerate the scoring in a powerplay.

In a World Cup, where every participating team has prepared hard for four years, you cannot afford to make the mistakes India did on Saturday.

The game was a virtual semifinal, to my mind, but India didn’t seem to realise they were playing what I believe to be the best team in the competition.

The time for experimentation were the matches against Ireland and the Netherlands, where people like R Ashwin and Sreesanth should’ve got a look in, to bring them up to match fitness and give them some confidence.

Now we are stuck with Munaf Patel, who I believe is too slow to be effective against quality opposition. But he will have to fill in as the third seamer, behind Zaheer and Nehra.

I only wish Dhoni had tossed the ball to Harbhajan for the final over, because you have to turn to your best bowlers in such a situation.

Having said that, I do believe this is the bowling combination they have to carry forward, because you can’t bring in untested players for crunch games.

About the South Africans’ performance, all I can say is that hats off for the way they came back.

Dale Steyn proved just why he is the best bowler in the world today with the way he recovered from the initial pasting he received. The chase was brilliantly paced, with all the batsmen barring Graeme Smith fulfilling the responsibilities assigned to them.

But the taste that will remain in the mouth is that India brought South Africa back into the World Cup after their demoralising ‘choke’ against England.

By Admin with No comments