When the World cup started many did not give chance to this Indian team, especially the bowling unit was strongly criticized by experts and non experts. Praveen Kumar would have filled the second bowler slot hands down. His injury did not deter the bowling mix, as Munaf Patel was seen as a smart bowler by Dhoni. The very fact that Dhoni played him in all the matches suggested that Munaf was made to play with a plan. In few sessions, it would have back fired, but Dhoni saw a bigger agenda in individuals stepping up to back mediocre performance of another Individual. Hence it became a team success.
Australian policy is similar wherein they have a wonderful fielding unit, which turns an average day for a bowler from one spell into a match winning performance when he completes his entire spell. But then, we were not a great fielding unit too, when we started the world cup. Dhoni did mention that Fielding would stay the same, as there are slow fielders in the side. But once we entered the knock out stages, those slow fielders in the side played with a point to prove their captain wrong. Dhoni was highly criticised for making an open statement about the slow nature of our fielding. But he never forgot to thank his team mates who contributed more than 100% in the field. Even for people watching the match, one would have seen Sachin, Zaheer and Munaf brilliantly covering the boundary lines and they were not hesitating to dive around. That projected the team goal and individuals rising to the occassion.
Our Batting unit was the strongest and if only there was a loophole, it was Yuvraj's batting woes. Sachin, Gambhir and Sehwag were top three run getters for India in same order. Yuvraj stands fourth highest run getter. Dhoni used couple of factors to make Yuvraj believe that he is a potential match winner. He mentioned time and again in interviews, that we are playing with five bowlers, though we went in with 7 batsmen 4 bowler formula. Yuvraj needs attention and if provided by his captain, he can win you matches single handedly. The second factor was to send Yuvraj ahead of Kohli in Group matches to bring him back to form. But when it came to Knock out stages, he differentiated Kohli and Yuvraj's contribution and did not alter the batting order too much. We always had Sachin, Sehwag, Gambhir in great form. Dhoni stayed low down the order to take pressure on himself during the group matches. He stepped up in the final and showed the world why he was not out of form.
Yusuf Pathan's contribution in the third power play was a niggling factor when we entered the knock out stages. Gary Kirsten came out in the open and cleared the confusion surrounding the 3rd power play. He mentioned that 3rd power play should no more hinder as it would be pushed to the last 5 overs, be it setting or chasing down the target. Australia were surprised to find Yusuf Pathan excluded from playing eleven in their quarter final match and little they knew Raina would come and play pivotal innings to knock them off. Australians did stick to the old formula of bouncing out Raina. But then he was mentally prepared for facing the attack, as he kept on knocking them for singles. Also due to the fact that Raina is technically profound than Yusuf Pathan, we not only managed to play 3rd power play better, but also ensured that Harbhajan and Zaheer played sensibly along with Raina to contribute good in knock out matches. Dhoni backing Raina in Knock out matches was a killer punch move.
Piyush Chawla was backed by Dhoni, after a fantastic warm up match against Aussies, which according to me, created a panic in Australia's chances of winning this world cup again. But then Piyush Chawla throwed less than average performances in couple of matches and Dhoni had to look in for alternate spinner in R Ashwin, who was brilliant in the two matches that he played. He is undoubtedly a bowler for the future Indian cricket. But then Dhoni admitted that he mis read the wicket and did not play him in crucial encounter against Pakistan. He also mentioned that it played in their favour as there was some reverse swing which helped Nehra to come back with a strong performance after his mediocre performance against South Africans. When we could not defend 295 against RSA, it was a bad scenario for the bowling unit. R Ashwin was a revival factor for the entire bowling unit, as Zaheer and Harbhajan felt much more at ease while handling pressure cooker scenarios. We defended 260 odd runs with ease against West indies and Pakistan thanks to R Ashwin and A Nehra respectively.
Zaheer and Harbhajan were outstanding throughout the tournament, but for Zaheer's last spell in finals and Bhajji's last overs against Aussies, I hardly remember them taken for runs. Zaheer did a better job with respect to picking wickets than Harbhajan and even Zaheer did not pierce through the strong team's top order. It was his clever mix of deliveries other than first spell in every match which made him the best bowler of the tournament. If it was a tied match against England, thanks to spell by Zaheer in 3rd power play. Who would forget the slower ones to get rid of Mike Hussey and Devon Smith from Zaheer. Peach of delivary from Zaheer. Bhajji's contribution is no way less compared to Zaheer in knocking premier batsmen out. His crucial wickets of Umar Akmal and Afridi in Semis, Dilshan's wicket in finals turned out to match winners for the day.
Yuvraj's bowing performance needs a special mention, as he bowled at the required pace and bowled with stern intention to contain runs. Wickets came his way as batsmen tried to take chance of his bowling and smart field placements by Dhoni also helped the cause. Raina's contribution in fielding spilled over on likes of Yuvraj and Kohli. In the knock out stages, these three raised the bars to such an extent that slow fielders got pepped up and tried to replicate the same foregtting their age and physical fitness.
Dhoni and Gary, along with seniors in the side came up with fantastic strategies, given the resources. They made the match winners out of mediocre performers, especially with the bowling department. Dhoni is more of a strong leader than a technical captain. He is brave to take a decision and make it right. He has a good support staff in form of Gary and Senior cricketers. He is in learning phase and he would grow on to become even better. But then nobody can deny the fact that he is a great Leader. Whole world is praising him for that quality and let's all join and hail the Indian captain too.
Regards,
Prashy.
