One of the important weaknesses that West Indies has brought out from the top order of Indian batting is “Short Ball and Bouncers”. In both of the completed Super 8 league, Indian top order were exposed to some serious short deliveries, even England Bowlers got the message and were pampering the top order with lots of it. Suresh Raina was the worst affected, when he could not hit the bouncer out of the ground. There were lots of mistimed pull shots from the top 4 batsmen. The fear factor has been created by West Indies and England nicely carried the same strategy into their match against India too. But should the exit be attributed to only this factor? I don’t think so.
During the first innings, Indians could not make things happen either with the ball or in the field against England. Zaheer and Ishant Sharma were pathetic, to say the least, but it was ensured that they get their full quota of overs. R P Singh had bowled 3 overs giving away 13 runs and yet somehow he was overseen by players on field. I mean it should have striked to Dhoni first; also any other player could walk up to Dhoni and say R P had another over to bowl. Both Harbhajan and Ravindra Jadeja had a wonderful outing with the ball. Apart from the two wide deliveries from Harbhajan, his spell was fantastic; considering he bowled two slog overs. Fielding was pathetic, rather it was very sluggish (I have to be very harsh: It really seemed over confident). Fielders like Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, and Yusuf Pathan were fielding with an air of arrogance. England batsmen were picking two runs whenever the ball went towards them in the deep. It was shame to watch, considering it’s a T-20 game and Fielding is such an important aspect.
As the old school of thought says, “Give the initial spell to the bowlers, spend time in the middle and then you can dictate terms to them”. Gambhir was trying to live up to that statement. But he got out at the wrong time which did not help the cause. Ravindra Jadeja came, saw, conquered the crease for a long time to ensure run chase is out of our hands. It’s sad, the way he played, after he has been trained so well to do similar job in T-20s for Rajasthan Royals. I won’t blame Yuvraj because he did nothing wrong. Dhoni and Yusuf were fighting a lost cause, when they were trying to do the impossible. But any viewer would admit only Yusuf Pathan could have brought us out of that mess and not Dhoni, because he has completely forgotten, how to score a Six. Big shots are out of Dhoni’s books.
Dhoni has got few of his moves wrong like not playing Praveen Kumar in the playing eleven. He is a street smart bowler who did really well in IPL. He swings the ball too and England conditions would have been ideal for this bowler. Praveen Kumar is no mug with the bat too. To me, he should have played instead of Ishant against West Indies. R P Singh ended as the best bowler in IPL tournament for Deccan Chargers and Dhoni did not play him in the crucial encounter against West Indies. When he played, he was not completely utilized. Also it was ridiculous to watch Dhoni tossing the ball again and again to Ishant to complete his quota of 4 overs, when he was leaking runs. Ishant Sharma does not possess good Yorkers and slower ones to make his spell look better. His bouncers were sitting nicely for batsmen to hook it or pull it for six. Yusuf Pathan should have come one slot ahead of M S Dhoni so that much needed acceleration would not have got pushed by an over. This particular aspect turned against us for the run chase.
The last match against South Africa was not even considered important for RSA to step into Semi finals. The match was a mere formality and in a square turner wicket, both the teams excelled in the bowling department really well and batting was just not on the cards. Indians can now focus on the one day series in West indies, where the selection will be re looked. Srikanth will definitely ensure that players like Murali Vijay, Badrinath get their chance in the squad.
I want to conclude by saying that Technicality issue (Indians not able to face Bouncers) was not alone the cause for exit from the world cup, but also the team selection and crucial moves (which turned out wrong) added to the cause for the early exit from the world cup. This Indian team is not so bad to lose all the three matches in Super 8 league.
Dhoni should continue to lead the Indian team, but this T-20 world cup will be a hard lesson for him so that he does not meddle with the batting line up too much. Bowling unit is also looking good and nobody can help when Injuries strike a team hard. I meant Virender Sehwag's shoulder injury.
In absence of India, my instinct says that West Indies will lift the cup. But on the day, teams like RSA, Pakistan and Sri Lanka can make any opponents go mad.
Thanks,
Prashy.
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