If you are a cricket fan who likes to trace out the ‘culprit ‘ of a match or a tour, or if you are really interested in ‘who are accountable’ for the performance of the team in any specific tour or test match, then this piece isn’t for you. Instead of going for someone’s throat or claiming that ‘this/that player should be axed’, I am going to break down the reasons behind the failure of the Indian cricket team in the first two tests versus Australia (Melbourne and Sydney), into smaller parts to help you understand the situation better.
There is no doubt in the fact that India is one of the best test teams in the world, on paper at least, and at home. If you have these players in your side; Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Tendulkar, V.V.S Laxman, Virat Kohli, Dhoni; more often than not you are expected to win. But, the team’s performance in the last couple of years, especially on foreign soil, has been very ordinary.
After 24 Jan 2008, Tests played outside the subcontinent (by subcontinent, I mean the combined landmass of Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and India):
Played 17 Won 3
Lost 8
Draw 6
Last 9 matches away from home:
Won 0
Lost 7
Draw 2
Since Jan 1, 2011. Test matches lost:
India 7
Sri Lanka 2
West Indies 2
Pakistan 1
Australia 1
New Zealand 1
Bangladesh 1
Captaincy:
A good captain should possess nerves of steel, he should be inapprehensive, unflinching, tactically aggressive, determined and have the will to win. He should be flexible (ability to bring a change in the pre-planned tactics when required), should be a good mind-reader and last but not the least, he should be a good motivator; man of action.
Kumar Sangakara was finagler, one of the finest examples of how a captain manages his resources well. Sri Lanka have limited resources, but he has made the best possible use of it. Misbah-Ul-Haq’s contribution to Pakistani cricket, as a captain ,I believe will be acknowledged once his tenure runs out. He is a team man, never panics, has the support of the players and in my opinion, the man responsible for the ‘resurgence’ of Pakistan cricket. Andrew Strauss with the support of Andy Flower has changed the fortunes of the English team. Our very own Sourav Ganguly leads the race when it comes to tactical aggression, belligerence and being a genuine leader.
Dhoni succeeded Kumble as the captain of the Test side. In the first few years, he was very successful and had a good win/loss ratio. The Test team was faring well and so was the ODI team. There was no one who had any issues with his captaincy. The team won the World Cup under his captaincy, and he was lauded by one and all. Dhoni’s success, in my opinion shouldn’t have been surprising. When you have so many potential match-winners in the side; people like Dravid, Sachin, Laxman in your test batting line up. Add that too good spinners, you have to be really a hapless captain to lose matches. With so many senior players he didn’t need to be the mentor-guide to the team, he just needed to keep it in good fettle. He never had to display pugnacity to prove his leadership abilities. The team performed well enough without that. Nobody ever blamed him for missing the fighting spirit. The spirit is missing at the moment.
Knives are out for Dhoni after the losses in England and now in Australia. The flaws in his captaincy have been highlighted. It is now believed that he was just not good enough to achieve whatever he has achieved so far. He has been lucky far too long; it’s time for a reality check. Dhoni scores low when it comes to field placements. He was criticized for setting defensive fields after sending 4/5 opposition batsmen to the pavilion conceding a few runs. He isn’t a great motivator, since, till now he never felt the need to do so. In Test matches, unlike other captains, you rarely see him walking to the bowler and giving him some advice.
There have been plenty of instances when the quick’s, like Zaheer and Ishant, have provided the break-through, but India have failed to capitalize on it. What Dhoni has done is, his gone for defensive fields, men in the deep protecting the boundaries. Even in the series in England he was found guilty of setting defensive fields, taking off the third slip fielder very early. Dhoni, asking a man to field at short point, forward-short-leg against quicks, is indeed a uncommon sight. One could see that Clarke had a man at forward-short-leg against India.
India in South Africa Test Series – Jan 2, 2011
South Africa were reduced to 2-34 and then 4-164, but they fought back and scored 362. In the second innings, they found themselves at 5-89, but again they managed to score 364.
India tour of England, 2011
1st Test: In their 2nd innings England were 5-62 at one stage, but they ended up scoring 6-269 (declared).
2nd Test: England were at 8-124 at one stage, but they ended up the final score of 221. In the 2nd innings England were 6-339 and managed a mammoth score of 544 runs in that innings.
India tour of Australia, 2011/12
1st Test: In the 1st innings, Australia after being 6-214 scored 333 . They were 4-27 at one stage in their 2nd innings but in spite of that they posted a total of 240.
These are only a few examples, there have been many such occasions when teams have taken advantage of his defensive field-placements.
Batting
People seem to have taken it for granted that India has the best batting line up. Is this true?
In the last 13 months India has played 11 test matches;
Scores above 500 – none
above 400 – once
above 300- thrice
Opening has been a major issue. The injury prone, Sehwag and Gambhir have disappointed in Tests. Their replacements (Murali Vijay and Mukund) don’t seem to have the class to deliver the goods at the highest level. Also they have never been given enough chances to prove their mettle. Openers haven’t been able to leave the ball well. Gambhir, in most matches edges to the wk/slip cordon, Sehwag chases for deliveries outside off and invites trouble. Gambhir had it in him to play knocks of substance, but these days he looks very tentative with his foot movement against deliveries on the off stump.
Only Sachin and Dravid, look somewhat assured against fast bowling. Both of them are good leavers of the ball and know where their off-stump is. Especially Sachin leaves the ball on the 3rd /4th stump better than anyone. This has been the weakness of Sehwag, Laxman and Dhoni; all 3 of them have unique techniques. Laxman has a tendency to play away from his body, especially the cover drives, his back foot doesn’t move much . He has been able to survive with his technique all these years, but that doesn’t seem to be working these days. Sehwag hardly moves his feet but his ability to pick the line of the ball quickly and time the ball well even without much feet movement helps him. Dhoni’s technique is difficult to describe, his walking-cover-drive has resulted in his downfall too many times. These three have an exceptional hand-eye coordination which has been of immense help to them in their careers.
Against the short ball, Dravid and Laxman seem somewhat assured; Sachin doesn’t play the pull shot these days. Sehwag and Gambhir have never been good pullers. Same is the case with rest of the batting line up. How can you win Tests abroad ( ]especially in England, S Africa and Australia) if 9 out of 11 of your batsmen are poor on their backfoot ?. When a player is unsure about his backfoot play, the bowler bangs a few short, and then he bowls a fuller one. The batsman, expects another short ball and stays on his back foot, he edges it and perishes. This is where England score high, their top 5 batsmen, Cook, Strauss, Trott, KP and Bell have very good techniques and more importantly they are good players on the off-stump; equally good on the front-foot and backfoot.
India doesn’t have a settled batsman at number 6. Raina’s weakness against short-pitched stuff compelled the management to throw him out. Yuvraj Singh never looked comfortable at 6 and Virat Kohli averages 15 odd in overseas Tests. He is a talented player, majestic on the front foot. His back-foot play needs to improve. Rohit Sharma who is known for his technique against fast-bowling has been never given the opportunity to prove himself. The selectors continue to neglect Badrinath, experienced and a prolific scorer in Ranji.
Opening partnerships (2011)
Runs scored (2011)
So basically , this is what has happened in most of the matches
1) Openers fall early
2) Hopes pinned on Dravid and Sachin
3) Most of the times the duo come to the rescue . at around 80 , team loses the third wicket
4) The remaining 6 make another 140/150 and the team gets all out within 250
BCCI still in the cocoon of denial
1) Utter lack of preparation, planning and practice. The English team reached Australia well before the Ashes, but the Indians played against West Indies in a rather needless 5 match ODI series at home, on dustbowls. The time that could have been utilized to prepare for the major series was wasted.
2) Playing IPL has had an adverse impact on the technique of the batsmen. In Test cricket you need to be good at two things, leaving the ball and knowing where the off-stump is. The Indian batsmen have forgotten how to leave the balls on the off stump. In T20s you are advised not to waste deliveries, put bat to ball and rotate strike. There are people like Kohli and Gambhir who don’t seem to like leaving the ball even if the ball is pitched on the 5th or 6th stump outside off. Majority of the batsmen these days, in Ranji Trophy and International cricket try to reach out and hit every ball. So the bowlers keep them fishing outside off. Knowing they are going to nick one and get caught behind the stumps. I can assure you every aspiring young cricketer in the country would prefer seeing his name in the scoreboard of an IPL match. The honour’s board at Lord’s means nothing to them.
3) Playing excessive T20s affects the bowlers more than anyone else. When a bowler constantly bowls short bursts at batsman who are out to hammer him, his bowling action is put under severe stress, its gives him bad habbits, the bowler fears to pitch the ball on the good length and on the fourth stump because that will allow the batsman to get under the delivery. Even while playing ODIs on the flat Indian pitches, you either bowl full or pitch it on the short of good length, with the ball directed towards the batsman’s body. Ishant Sharma has been a degraded bowler ever since he started playing IPL.
4) The BCCI was supposed to conduct a detailed review of the England tour. That never happened, instead, they met a few times to discuss the future of the IPL Kochi franchise. The day on which India lost the 2nd Test match at Sydney, the BCCI members met, to finalise the schedule of the 5th edition of IPL. When asked to comment on the horror run in England, Rajiv Shukla said “ We are absolutely happy because we want cricket to grow in England “.
5) Subramaniam Badrinath, Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane have the best batting averages in domestic cricket. None of them is in the playing XI.
6) Only a mentally illlusioned cricket board will expect indoor nets and 10-15 day batting camps to produce cricketers of Sachin or Dravid’s calibre.
7) The MRF pace foundation is a private initiative. The board could have made use of it. Instead they have this useless specialist academies.
8) There has never been a sincere effort to build a proper ‘A’ team and send them to play emerging nations tournaments . No one has bothered to select players for the A tours who can compete for places in Australia, those who don’t slog and can think beyond 20s and 30s. Sending players to Australia for emerging players tournaments on the basis of performances in IPL, is like making a serious joke of the entire domestic cricket structure.
9) No one has the guts to nudge any senior player. How poor his form maybe, he still plays and the guys scoring tons of runs in domestic cricket are never rewarded.
10) The richest cricket board still doesn’t have a decent injury management system and database. The board members say it is ‘expensive'.
India aren’t playing tests abroad till December 2013. This is the time to blood youngsters. I believe it would have been a lot better had the team lost with Rohit and Rahane in the side rather than the seniors in England and Australia. The seniors, Dravid, Sachin and Laxman have hardly 3 years of cricket left in them. Selectors have their job cut out, find good enough replacements. One good option can be to replace one senior every year with a newbie. That will make the transition smoother. The batting line up which used to look like this; Sehwag, Gambhir, Dravid, Sachin, Laxman, Ganguly and Dhoni will be somewhat like this after a couple of years; Gambhir, Rahane/Sehwag, Pujara, Rohit, Kohli, Dhoni and Raina. I won’t be surprised if India drops further down in the Test rankings in the years to come. The selectors haven’t really bothered to induce fresh blood into the side. India won’t be able to enjoy the services of the golden trio for long. It’s going to be a testing time for the selectors, asking people who has served the country for almost two decades won’t be easy.
I believe, frequent batting collapses, failure of the top order to score runs and ordinary bowling, aren’t destroying Indian cricket; neglect and the lack of vision are . And the former are the symptoms of the latter.
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