India now haven't won a single game in the super eights in the last two editions of the T20 World Cup and have a track record in West Indies that can only be described as simply terrible. The Indians were outplayed in all departments and here are a few reasons what went wrong for the men in blue.
1.) The World Cup selection did not comprise of the best 15 T20 players in prime form at the moment. Rather it consisted various others the likes of Yusuf Pathan, and Ravindra Jadeja over Robin Uthappa, Pragyan Ojha and Irfan Pathan. The selectors and Dhoni have stated time and time again that this is the best 15 available, but if that was the case I'm sure India would have won more than 1 out of 4 games (leaving out the match against Afghanistan).
2.) The batting was subjected to many bouncers 10 months ago in England, where the Indian batsmen fell like flies. Now, after 10 months, knowing exactly what they will be against, the batsmen again looked confused and bemused against the shorter delivery. The team had 10 months to iron out their weakness, and added to this is that they knew very well that they would have to face some torrid bumpers from the pace bowlers in the Indies. Still they managed to fail and this shows just how lacking the team has been in terms of preparation. The technical aspect of the Indian top order batsmen must be analyzed and rectified.
3.) The bowling was pathetic to say the least. Zaheer Khan looked tired while Nehra and Praveen Kumar were erratic in their line and length. Yusuf Pathan and Yuvraj Singh bowled the fifth bowler quota and were taken to the cleaners. The selection of Ravindra Jadeja is something that is incomprehensible. Despite going for 38 runs against the Aussies in just 2 overs including 6 consecutive sixes, he was selected yet again for the match against the West Indies. There's some serious problem selection problem here. Harbhajan Singh was the only bowler who was left to both attack and contain the batsmen and the pressure on him was immense and this is seen in his numbers. Compared to the others, he bowled decently well.
4.) This Indian team is one that has plenty of youth and look to a well agile team. Wrong! Many of the youngsters are hardly fit and cannot catch a cricket ball even 7 out of 10 times. Raina, Rohit, Karthik are exceptions, but the others are simply awful. This includes the likes of Gambhir, Yuvraj (heaven knows what happened to his fielding ability), and Yusuf Pathan. Fielding was probably the difference in yesterdays match.
5.) The selection of the playing 11 can be termed none better than stupid. A team is supposed to consist of the best possible 11 players available, but sadly this wasn't the case. The selections of Ravindra Jadeja, and Yusuf Pathan raises many questions. Ravindra Jadeja is a part time bowler and a part time batsmen who comes out to bat at 8. In a T20 match if your top 4 batsmen don't do the job, the 8th one is not going to do it. So it seems the common sense thing to do is to play a specialist bowler and strengthen the bowling. Yusuf Pathan is a big hitter no doubt and made for T20, but he has been a player who has had huge success in the domestic circuits, but has done little for India. In his last 12 innings he has scored 164 runs at an average of 16.40. If a player has failed to make an impact after 16 T20 matches, why give him another chance, when there are thousands waiting in the ranks?
6.) Dhoni's captaincy wasn't so good either. He kept bringing on spinners in the powerplay despite the fact that they were getting hit all over the park. His bowling changes and field placements was found lacking as he kept an average fielder in vital positions and made part timers bowl in very important phases of the match. No wonder this is his worst tournament as captain. He must take a leaf out of Micheal Clarke's book I feel.
Its time for India to rethink their team and the very way they play the game and make the proper changes. The attitude and the thinking must change and so must the results. This is an opportunity to put the team in order and look to become the best team ever. The Australians had to do that after last years disastrous performance and just look at them now!
1.) The World Cup selection did not comprise of the best 15 T20 players in prime form at the moment. Rather it consisted various others the likes of Yusuf Pathan, and Ravindra Jadeja over Robin Uthappa, Pragyan Ojha and Irfan Pathan. The selectors and Dhoni have stated time and time again that this is the best 15 available, but if that was the case I'm sure India would have won more than 1 out of 4 games (leaving out the match against Afghanistan).
2.) The batting was subjected to many bouncers 10 months ago in England, where the Indian batsmen fell like flies. Now, after 10 months, knowing exactly what they will be against, the batsmen again looked confused and bemused against the shorter delivery. The team had 10 months to iron out their weakness, and added to this is that they knew very well that they would have to face some torrid bumpers from the pace bowlers in the Indies. Still they managed to fail and this shows just how lacking the team has been in terms of preparation. The technical aspect of the Indian top order batsmen must be analyzed and rectified.
3.) The bowling was pathetic to say the least. Zaheer Khan looked tired while Nehra and Praveen Kumar were erratic in their line and length. Yusuf Pathan and Yuvraj Singh bowled the fifth bowler quota and were taken to the cleaners. The selection of Ravindra Jadeja is something that is incomprehensible. Despite going for 38 runs against the Aussies in just 2 overs including 6 consecutive sixes, he was selected yet again for the match against the West Indies. There's some serious problem selection problem here. Harbhajan Singh was the only bowler who was left to both attack and contain the batsmen and the pressure on him was immense and this is seen in his numbers. Compared to the others, he bowled decently well.
4.) This Indian team is one that has plenty of youth and look to a well agile team. Wrong! Many of the youngsters are hardly fit and cannot catch a cricket ball even 7 out of 10 times. Raina, Rohit, Karthik are exceptions, but the others are simply awful. This includes the likes of Gambhir, Yuvraj (heaven knows what happened to his fielding ability), and Yusuf Pathan. Fielding was probably the difference in yesterdays match.
5.) The selection of the playing 11 can be termed none better than stupid. A team is supposed to consist of the best possible 11 players available, but sadly this wasn't the case. The selections of Ravindra Jadeja, and Yusuf Pathan raises many questions. Ravindra Jadeja is a part time bowler and a part time batsmen who comes out to bat at 8. In a T20 match if your top 4 batsmen don't do the job, the 8th one is not going to do it. So it seems the common sense thing to do is to play a specialist bowler and strengthen the bowling. Yusuf Pathan is a big hitter no doubt and made for T20, but he has been a player who has had huge success in the domestic circuits, but has done little for India. In his last 12 innings he has scored 164 runs at an average of 16.40. If a player has failed to make an impact after 16 T20 matches, why give him another chance, when there are thousands waiting in the ranks?
6.) Dhoni's captaincy wasn't so good either. He kept bringing on spinners in the powerplay despite the fact that they were getting hit all over the park. His bowling changes and field placements was found lacking as he kept an average fielder in vital positions and made part timers bowl in very important phases of the match. No wonder this is his worst tournament as captain. He must take a leaf out of Micheal Clarke's book I feel.
Its time for India to rethink their team and the very way they play the game and make the proper changes. The attitude and the thinking must change and so must the results. This is an opportunity to put the team in order and look to become the best team ever. The Australians had to do that after last years disastrous performance and just look at them now!
1 Comments:
Yes, as I mentioned in my comment to your previous post ('Story of India and Bouncers') I was wondering a little about Dhonis Captaincy. The thing is though, that unlike Clarke, Dhoni does have 'pedigree' - after all, he led Chennai Superkings to victory in the IPL and he has shown good leadership qualities for the Indian national XI. It is hard to understand why he failed in this World Cup. Maybe he was simply worn out a bit after just having captained so successfully in the IPL?!?
Secondly, I wonder about the balance of the Indian side. I watch quite a lot of Australian domestic cricket and I am not at all convinced that the Australian national XI necessarily include the 11 best Australian T20 players. Nevertheless, on the whole, I would say that it is a very well balanced side. For instance, there is no way that I would say Michael Hussey is one of Australia's 11 best T20 players ... heck, I'm not even sure I'd say he's one of our best 20. Yet, he certainly has played a very important, at times vital, role within this particular team, and I would even go as far as to say that without him they wouldn't have won as many matches as they have. I don't know whether it's balance within the team, personal chemistry or what, but I do think that the Australian XI would have been a poorer team without him. And in the final analysis, for all its individual splendour, cricket is a team sport.
Perhaps what India chiefly lacks is team 'balance' and that safe, reliable middle-order anchor?!?
Oh, and maybe some better fielding? The pride the Australian XI takes in its fielding is virtually unsurpassed ... and at least some of their catches have certainly won them matches.
Post a Comment
Read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted but to weigh and consider.
- Francis Bacon